***************************************************************** 10/07/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.233 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Says IAEA Inspections Could End 2 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul Denies Hill Chafed at Energy Offer 3 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea Insists on Atomic Reactor 4 IPS-English POLITICS: Nobel Peace Prize Seen as Warning to Big 5 IAEA wins Nobel Peace Prize -- only giving it to the DOE, the 6 Mohamed Elbaradei Says Nobel Prize Boosts Iaea's Resolve On Hard Roa 7 Interfax: Adamov case won't affect U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation - 8 Bellona: Sergey Kirienko can become nuclear minister 9 RIA Novosti: Russian ex-minister Adamov to appeal extradition - lawy NUCLEAR REACTORS 10 US: Activist Asks NRC to Delay TMI & Peach Bottom License Transfers 11 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss Performance Improvement Activities at Perry 12 US: Tallahassee Democrat: New nuke? 13 US: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Beaver Valley reactor gets new lease on 14 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point 3 generating electricity once again 15 US: NRC: Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company; Notice of Release of Lan 16 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find 17 US: NRC: Arizona Public Service Company; Notice of Partial Withdrawa 18 US: NRC: Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Humboldt Bay Independent 19 US: York Daily Record: Nuke evacuation plans under fire - 20 ITAR-TASS: Reactor switched off at Ukr Zaporozhye plant for planned 21 Carlisle Business Gazette: HOPES FOR NEW GENERATION OF NUCLEAR POWER NUCLEAR SECURITY 22 US: Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Urged to Come Up With Plutonium Plan 23 Bellona: Russia to diminish US financial participation in nuclear ob 24 BBC: Kyrgyz hunt for radioactive matter NUCLEAR SAFETY 25 US: Guardian Unlimited: Worker Dies After Nuclear Plant Accident 26 Yokwe: Loss-of-Damages From U.S. Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Isl NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 27 US: Rocky Mountain News: Last radioactive waste leaves Rocky Flats 28 US: Bradenton Herald: State finds plume data incomplete 29 AU ABC: Alice protesters vow to continue dump fight 30 reviewjournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Audit criticizes bonuses paid 31 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Going nuclear in Washington 32 US: DailyBulletin.com: Defense funding due for cleanup of perchlorat 33 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Moab tailings appear to have stayed put 34 AU: ABC: Ockham's Razor: Nuclear Waste Storage in Australia 35 US: AU ABC: Committee chairman says uranium safety under scrutiny. 36 Carlisle Business Gazette: LEAKED REPORT ON DUBIOUS PRACTICES AT WAS 37 Pahrump Valley Times: Caliente mayor frets over Yucca Mountain licen 38 US: Deseret News: Tons of uranium soil coming to Utah 39 Guardian Unlimited: Energy Dept. Chief Slams Yucca Spending PEACE 40 MDN: Japanese A-bomb victims hopeful ahead of Nobel Peace Prize anno 41 AFP: UN nuclear watchdogs win Nobel Peace Prize, 60 years after 42 Guardian Unlimited: IAEA, ElBaradei Share Nobel Peace Prize US DEPT. OF ENERGY 43 Seattle Times: Energy Department may not meet deadline for Hanford p 44 DOE: Office of Science; Notice of Renewal of the DOE/NSF Nuclear 45 DOE: Office of Environmental Management; Notice of Availability of 46 www.GovExec.com: Energy unit paid contractor award fees despite poor ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Says IAEA Inspections Could End From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 7, 2005 10:46 PM AP Photo XHS111 By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran could stop U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities, its top envoy said Friday, as tens of thousands of Iranians rallied in support of their country's nuclear program. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told state-run TV that Iran would be entitled to put an end to unfettered inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency unless it changes its resolution on Iran at a November meeting. Last month, the U.N. agency passed a resolution warning Iran it would be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions unless it allayed fears about its nuclear program. ``Definitely it would be the right of Iran to discontinue confidence-building measures, including (unfettered inspections), if the resolution is not amended at the next meeting of the IAEA,'' Mottaki said after visiting Gulf states Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to drum up support for Iran's nuclear standoff with the West. The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies. The IAEA has called on Iran to cease its uranium enrichment activities until such accusations have been conclusively refuted. The IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, who along with his organization won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, said he spoke about Iran with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Iran's nuclear program. Describing his phone conversation with Rice, who called to congratulate him, ElBaradei said that they both ``agreed that we will have to continue to work together'' on issues including dispelling suspicions about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Iranians heeded government calls and held rallies across the country to back Iran's nuclear activities after attending Friday prayer services. Demonstrators poured out of mosques in downtown Tehran chanting: ``Nuclear suspension is not possible anymore'' and ``Death to America.'' ``The demonstrations have two messages; first that Iranian people know that their enemies thwart Iran of advancing and the second that Iran has to resist pressures,'' state-run TV said in a commentary. Uranium enrichment does not violate the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory. But key IAEA members, including the U.S. and European nations, want Iran to permanently scrap enrichment plans as a confidence-building measure, something Tehran says it is not prepared to do. Talks between Britain, Germany and France - which negotiated on behalf of the 25-nation European Union - and Iran collapsed in early August after Iran resumed uranium reprocessing activities at its Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan, in central Iran. Tehran had suspended uranium conversion work under a November 2004 deal with the European troika. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 2 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul Denies Hill Chafed at Energy Offer to N.Korea Home> National/Politics Updated Oct.7,2005 20:10 KST The Foreign Ministry on Friday denied reports that the U.S chief negotiator in six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program accused Seoul of undermining negotiations in the last round. A Japanese daily earlier reported Christopher Hill told a closed-door seminar that South Korea¡¯s offer of massive energy aid to the North was making things too easy for Pyongyang. However, the ministry official on Friday conceded that ¡°the negative view toward Seoul¡¯s role in negotiations with Pyongyang is widespread in Washington.¡± Government officials involved in the six-party talks expect negotiators to make little headway in the next round due to the yawning gap between the U.S and the North. However, differences between Seoul and Washington could prove an even bigger headache. The U.S. is reluctant to give in to North Korean demands for a light-water reactor, but South Korea says such civilian nuclear facilities are no problem provided Pyongyang complies with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and gives IAEA inspectors full access. North Korea promised to do so once the U.S. builds it a reactor. Seoul and Washington also disagree on other issues, including whether North Korea¡¯s dismal human rights record should come up in negotiations. Prof. Yoo Ho-yeol of Korea University, at a seminar by the conservative U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation, said U.S. government officials were wondering whether the South does not really know what Washington thinks or whether it just ignores it. A South Korean official said it was ¡°worrisome¡± that Washington believes Seoul is siding with Pyongyang. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress took a wait-and-see attitude on the accord that ended the last round of the six-party talks. At a House International Relations Committee hearing on the talks, representatives neither praised the statement of principles as a remarkable achievement nor criticized it as a failure. James Leach, the chairman of an Asia-Pacific subcommittee, said it was realistic to think that ¡°the more difficult portions of the process lie ahead, not behind¡¦ Any attempt to declare either victory or failure on the basis of the statement of principles is premature.¡± Some warn that the U.S. will run out of patience with North Korea amid concerted efforts at home to rebuild the areas devastated by hurricane Katrina. Rep. Tom Lantos said the U.S government and parliament would not put up with any more North Korean delay tactics in the fifth round of talks slated for November. Larry Niksch, an Asia expert with the Congressional Research Service, told the Heritage Foundation seminar Seoul and Washington lacked coordination and their alliance was under stress. (englishnews@chosun.com ) ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea Insists on Atomic Reactor From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 7, 2005 2:01 AM AP Photo SEL101 PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - North Korea will not rejoin nuclear arms control treaties or allow international nuclear inspections until it receives an atomic reactor for power from the United States, a top diplomat told Associated Press Television News Thursday. ``In order to recover relations of trust between North Korea and the U.S., the U.S. should show its intent to turn words into actions,'' Kim Yong Guk, section chief of the European department of North's Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with APTN. ``The physical foundation of consolidating trust between our nations is a light water reactor.'' The North's demand for a reactor for its civilian nuclear program has cast doubts on a breakthrough agreement last month in which Pyongyang agreed to abandon all nuclear programs in exchange for security guarantees and energy aid. The six nations at the talks - the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - agreed to discuss the reactor demand ``at an appropriate time,'' which the North insists is now. The United States says the North must first comply with the agreement to dismantle its nuclear programs. Two light water reactors, believed to be less easily diverted for weapons use, were promised to Pyongyang under a 1994 agreement with Washington. That agreement has been strongly criticized by the Bush administration and fell apart amid the latest nuclear crisis sparked in late 2002, when U.S. officials said the North admitted to a secret nuclear program. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 4 IPS-English POLITICS: Nobel Peace Prize Seen as Warning to Big Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:37:35 -0700 ROMAIPS WD HD IP ML=20 POLITICS: Nobel Peace Prize Seen as Warning to Big Powers Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 (IPS) - The United Nations, which has taken a sever= e beating in recent months over charges of fraud, corruption and cronyism= , received a morale booster Friday with news of a Nobel Peace Prize to on= e of its sister agencies. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters he was =94delighted=94 t= hat the 2005 peace award was given to the Vienna-based International Atom= ic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, a nat= ional of Egypt. =94I think it's a message for all of us that we should take the issue of = (nuclear) non-proliferation and (nuclear) disarmament very, very seriousl= y,=94 Annan said, =94particularly at a time when weapons of mass destruct= ion continue to pose a grave danger to us all.=94 Refuting the argument that the IAEA had failed to halt the spread of weap= ons of mass destruction, Annan said: =94If you refer to failures of the a= gency, I'm not sure it's the agency that has failed or it's a lack of wil= l on the part of member states that has made it difficult for the agency = to come up with successes.=94 Jim Paul, executive director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum, s= aid there is obviously a hidden message being transmitted by the Norwegia= n Nobel committee. =94The way I read it is that there is in existence a nuclear regime that = is being monitored and enforced by the IAEA. And that should be the way t= o go-- not unilateral action by big powers,=94 Paul told IPS. But unfortunately, he said, there are lots of efforts to undermine the IA= EA. =94Iraq was a notorious example=94 where the United States virtually = appropriated the functions of the IAEA in pursuing weapons of mass destru= ction -- and ultimately invading the country. Iran is going to be another example, Paul said, where the United States a= nd the 25-member European Union are trying to take over the job assigned = to the IAEA or are exerting political pressure on the work of the agency. In effect, the Nobel peace committee says =94there is an existing regime = which we should support, and it is wrong to go outside that regime=94, Pa= ul added. Early this year, the United States tried to block ElBaradei's efforts to = run for a third four-year term as IAEA head because of disagreement over = whether or not Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. = State Department also implicitly accused ElBaradei of =94going soft=94 on= Iran, Washington's political nemesis. Washington eventually relented primarily because it could not find an alt= ernative candidate to go against the IAEA chief. Meanwhile, Annan expressed disappointment last month over the failure of = the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference to make any = tangible progress on both non-proliferation and disarmament. At the recently-concluded summit meeting of world leaders, he said, =94we= could not even agree on a paragraph on non-proliferation and disarmament= , and I had occasion to say that it was a disgrace and a real failure.=94 Annan said he hopes that his Nobel peace award will =94wake us all up, an= d indicate that it is important, and here is an agency and it's doing all= that they can, to work with member states on non-proliferation and disar= mament issues.=94 Currently, the primary focus is on the world's five declared nuclear powe= rs -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- who have be= en dragging their feet over nuclear disarmament, opting to hold onto all = their weapons of mass destruction. The three undeclared nuclear powers are India, Pakistan and Israel -- all= three achieving nuclear capabilities in secrecy and without much protest= =2E On the other hand, the two potential nuclear powers -- Iran and North Kor= ea -- have come under heavy pressure, mostly from the United States and t= he EU, to give up their nuclear ambitions. =94If we don't start containing this problem (of nuclear proliferation), = who (is) next?=94 Annan asked. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack gave a political twist to = the IAEA award when he told reporters Friday that the Nobel Prize was a =94= warning to Iran and other countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons un= der the guise of civilian nuclear programmes=94. =94I think it is a message that the world is watching closely and that th= e world stands united in working together to stop the spread of nuclear w= eapons,=94 he added. The speculation at the United Nations was that the Norwegian Nobel commit= tee was sending its own message to the U.S. administration for its refusa= l to take meaningful steps on nuclear disarmament and for its continued m= ilitaristic policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. =94We also see it as a message to all of the world's nuclear powers,=94 o= ne Asian diplomat told IPS. =94The IAEA should now have the courage of it= s convictions to stand up to the big nuclear powers.=94 Since 1957, Annan said, the IAEA has =94worked tirelessly and expertly to= stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and to promote the safe and p= eaceful uses of nuclear technology=94. He pointed out that ElBaradei had guided =94this vital mission with great= skill since 1997=94, when he was first elected director-general. This is the sixth time the world body or its sister agencies have won the= Nobel Peace Prize. The United Nations and Annan won the prize in 2001. O= ther winners included the U.N.'s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (1= 988), the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (both in 1981= and 1954), the International Labour Organisation (1969) and the U.N. chi= ldren's agency UNICEF (1965). Additionally, former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold posthumously= won the award in 1961, and Ralph Bunche, director of the U.N. Division o= f Trusteeship and Acting Mediator in Palestine won in 1950. ***** +International Atomic Energy Agency (http://www.iaea.org/) +Nobel Peace Prize (http://www.nobel.no/) (END/IPS/WD/IP/HD/ML/TD/KS/05) =20 =3D 10072221 ORP012 NNNN ***************************************************************** 5 IAEA wins Nobel Peace Prize -- only giving it to the DOE, the Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:50:55 -0700 October 7th, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dear Readers: The International Atomic Energy Agency, promoters of nuclear power (which are nothing more than slow nuclear weapons) has actually won the Nobel Peace Prize this year (2005). The only more inappropriate winners would be the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) or the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), or perhaps the nuclear industry itself. This award amounts to a wholehearted endorsement of nuclear power by the Nobel Committee. It amounts to a wholehearted endorsement of the lie that at most a few thousand people have died because of Chernobyl, when in fact the deaths are surely 10 or 100 times higher than the IAEA ever would admit. And the lie that nobody died because of Three Mile Island. And the lie that nobody died because of EVERY nuclear power plant around the world -- which together are creating about 50 NEW tons of nuclear waste every day, which the IAEA endorses and supports and supposedly regulates. Their idea of regulation is to allow as much nuclear material to be released into the environment as is necessary to continue the PROFITABLE operation of nuclear power plants! (This policy even has a technical term: ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable).) This award by the Nobel Committee amounts to an endorsement of the continued creation of ever-increasing piles of dangerous, terrorist-targeted nuclear waste from nuclear power plants, whose byproduct is the very same bomb material the IAEA claims to be opposing, and has hoodwinked the world into thinking it is stopping the proliferation of. This is an endorsement of genocide. This is an endorsement of dishonesty. This is an endorsement of the routine radioactive pollution of our environment by the nuclear industry. This is an endorsement of the destruction of the human genome. This is an endorsement of self-serving, secretive committees of insiders making vital decisions which affect us all. This is a shame. Sincerely, Russell Hoffman Concerned Citizen Carlsbad, CA The author, an independent researcher and educational software developer, has studied nuclear weapons and nuclear power for more thirty years. His essays are currently distributed via email and on the web, and have also been published by the North County Times, CounterPunch, Nuclear Monitor, TruthOut, and elsewhere. His essays have also been published in Australia, Brazil, India, Pakistan, Spain, etc.. A partial collection of essays and related programs written by this author is shown below: Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm POISON FIRE USA: An animated history of major nuclear activities in the continental United States: www.animatedsoftware.com/poifu/poifu.swf How does a nuclear power plant work? Animations of PWRs and BWRs: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/nukequiz/nukequiz_one/nuke_parts/reactor_parts.swf Internet Glossary of Nuclear Terminology / "The Demon Hot Atom": http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hotwords/index.htm SHUT SAN ONOFRE!: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm STOP CASSINI web site: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/index.htm NO NUKES IN SPACE: (FLASH animation): http://www.animatedsoftware.com/mx/nasa/columbia/index.swf or try: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/mx/nasa/columbia/index.html List of every nuclear power plant in America, with history, activist orgs, specs, etc.: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/nukelist.htm List of ~300 books and videos about nuclear issues in my collection (donations welcome!): http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/mybooks.htm ======================================================= ************************************************* ** THE ANIMATED SOFTWARE COMPANY ** Russell D. Hoffman, Owner and Chief Programmer ** P.O. Box 1936, Carlsbad CA 92018-1936 ** (800) 551-2726 ** (760) 720-7261 ** Fax: (760) 720-7394 ** Visit the world's most eclectic web site: ** http://www.animatedsoftware.com ************************************************* IF YOU RECEIVED THIS EMAIL IN ERROR AND/OR DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE ANY MORE EMAILS FROM US FOR ANY REASON, PLEASE CONTACT RUSSELL HOFFMAN AT: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com MailTo:rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com?Subject=Unsubscribe-me-please . Please be sure that "Unsubscribe-me-please" appears in the subject line. ***************************************************************** 6 Mohamed Elbaradei Says Nobel Prize Boosts Iaea's Resolve On Hard Road Ahead Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 14:04:48 -0400 United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei today said receiving the Nobel Peace Prize along with his agency "strengthens our resolve at a time when we have a hard road ahead of us" in leading the global struggle against nuclear proliferation. "With this recognition, the Norwegian Nobel Committee underscores the value and the relevance of the work we have been doing," he told international journalists at the agency's headquarters in Vienna on learning that he would share the prestigious award with the IAEA. The Nobel Prize will lend "prominence and impetus" to the IAEA's work, and sends a "strong message to keep doing what you are doing, be impartial, act with integrity," he said. <"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2005/ebsp2005n012.html">Voicing his "gratitude, pride and hope," the agency chief commended the dedication and service of the IAEA and its staff. "It is humbling to receive such an extraordinary honour. I share it with great pride with all the men and women who serve at the International Atomic Energy Agency. This is a tremendous recognition of their untiring efforts in the service of peace," he added. Mr. ElBaradei voiced hope that the award will serve to help the international community achieve the goal of developing a functional system of global security that does not derive from a nuclear weapons deterrent, but rather is based on addressing the security concerns of all people. "The Prize strengthens my resolve to fulfil both aspects of the IAEA mandate - ensuring the benefits of nuclear energy in the service of humankind, and working towards a world free of nuclear weapons," he declared. The <"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2005/nobelprize2005.html">IAEA, he noted, was founded with a simple credo: Atoms for Peace - meaning that nuclear science should be used safely and securely in the service of humanity and not for its destruction. Mr. ElBaradei said he was at home with his wife when he heard the announcement on television. "It came as an absolute surprise to me. We were overjoyed by the news," he added. Set up in 1957, the IAEA serves as the world's nuclear inspectorate. With 2,200 professional and support staff from more than 90 countries, the Agency also helps countries to upgrade nuclear safety and security, and to prepare for and respond to emergencies. In addition, it functions as the world's focal point to mobilize peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology for developing countries. Mr. ElBaradei joined the Agency in 1984 and held a number of high-level policy positions, including Legal Adviser and Assistant Director General for External Relations, before taking the reins in 1997. The 63-year old IAEA chief served previously as a diplomat with the Egyptian Foreign Service. He has lectured widely in the fields of international law, international organizations, arms control and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and is the author of various articles and books on these subjects. 2005-10-07 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 7 Interfax: Adamov case won't affect U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation - official Oct 7 2005 3:50PM SEVERSK. Oct 7 (Interfax) - The arrest of former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov and the charges brought against him won't affect American-Russian cooperation programs that seek to enhance security in the area of nuclear materials and technologies, senior official from the U.S. Department of Energy, David Huizenga, told reporters in Seversk, Siberia. The official said that the program the U.S. side is carrying out with Russia, namely with the Siberian Chemical Combine, are vital for both Russia and the United States, and that both countries will benefit from the partnership. © 1991-2005 Interfax All rights reserved News and other data on this web site are provided for information purposes only, and are not intended for republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Interfax. ***************************************************************** 8 Bellona: Sergey Kirienko can become nuclear minister Plenipotentiary of the Russian President in Privolzhye Federal District Sergey Kirienko can be promoted to the position of the head of the Federal Nuclear Agency. 2005-10-07 12:12 According to the daily Novoe Delo from Nizhny Novgorod, Sergey Kirienko should get a new position by the end of the year. The current head of the Russian nuclear agency Alexander Rumyantsev is going to retire, so it was decided Kirienko fits the position, as he used to be the head of the Fuel and Energy Ministry in 1997. The journalists of the Novoe Delo phoned both the Federal Nuclear Agency and Sergey Kirienko’s office in Nizhny Novgorod, but received no confirmation to these rumours. However, the newspaper’s source in the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, or State Duma, confirmed that some changes are really planned in the Federal Nuclear Agency, and Sergey Kirienko is likely to get the top position there. Publisher: , President: Information: , Technical contact: Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 9 RIA Novosti: Russian ex-minister Adamov to appeal extradition - lawyer 07/ 10/ 2005 GENEVA, October 7 (RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Andrianova) - A defense lawyer for former Russian Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov said Friday that his client could appeal the Swiss Federal Justice Department's decision to extradite to him United States at the end of next week. Stefan Wehrenberg said the appeal would be filed with the Federal Court in Lausanne, the nation's highest court, whose decisions are final and may not be appealed. Adamov will remain in Swiss custody until the end of the appeal hearings. Wehrenberg said he and other members of Adamov's defense team would try to convince the court that Russia's extradition request, submitted on May 17, should be given priority over the one lodged by the U.S. on June 24. The Swiss Justice Department's decision to extradite Adamov to the U.S. was made public Monday, October 3. He had been arrested in the Swiss city of Berne on May 2 on the request of the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. authorities accuse Adamov of diverting $9 million in Energy Department allocations for programs to raise the safety of Russian nuclear facilities during his 1998-2001 ministerial term. If convicted in the U.S., he faces up to 60 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine. In Russia, the ex-minister is wanted on charges of fraud and office abuse. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 10 Activist Asks NRC to Delay TMI & Peach Bottom License Transfers Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:50:37 -0700 X-Temp-Whitephrase: YES Nuclear X-Temp-Misspell: YES eXtra X-Spamprobe: ham-extreme * 0.0001016 OK PRESS RELEASE October 7, 2005 Contact: Eric J. Epstein (717)-541-1101 ericepstein@comcast.net Activist Asks NRC to Delay License Transfers Flawed Emergency Plans at Peach Bottom & TMI Harrisburg, PA. - Eric J. Epstein asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to postpone the license transfers of Three Mile Island-1 and Peach Bottom until AmerGen and Exelon can bring their emergency preparedness plans into compliance with their NRC issued licenses. The transfers are part of a proposed merger between Exelon Corporation and Public Service Electric and Gas. Epstein stated, "The NRC can not transfer out-of-compliance licenses. Nor can Exelon pretend that the problems will fix themselves.² Epstein¹s request was based on the findings of a NRC staff member with 40 years of experience. Michael Jamgochian a senior nuclear engineer found: € The children in Pennsylvania are not safe during a nuclear emergency because they are unplanned for during an evacuation; € The NRC 120 day count down for pulling all of Pennsylvania¹s nuclear power licenses should start immediately; and, € Pennsylvania nuclear power plants do not meet with the Federal Regulations requiring emergency planning for preschool children. Mr. Epstein specifically asked the NRC to hold the Indirect and Direct License transfers for Three Mile Island-1 and Peach Bottom 2 & 3 in abeyance until the licensees can bring their emergency plans into compliance with their operating licenses and NRC regulations. Epstein also requested that the emergency plans at Three Mile Island-1 and Peach Bottom 2 and 3 be revised prior to the merger in order to meet NRC licensing obligations. Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\Supplemental Filing" ***************************************************************** 11 NRC: NRC to Discuss Performance Improvement Activities at Perry Nuclear Power Plant News Release - Region III - 2005-04 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-05-040 October 06, 2005 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail: representatives of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company in Painesville, Ohio, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, to discuss the status and plans for implementing performance improvements at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located at Perry, Ohio. The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, will begin at 3 p.m. in the Barberry Room at the Renaissance Quail Hollow Resort, 11080 Concord-Hambden Road, Painesville. Before the meeting is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public. The plant has been under heightened NRC oversight since August of last year because of past problems with safety system equipment between October 2002 and May 2004. An in-depth inspection earlier this year found that performance problems were continuing at Perry, particularly in the areas of human performance and corrective action. To address these issues, FirstEnergy last month submitted its revised performance improvement program to the NRC. The agency documented the companys commitments in a Confirmatory Action Letter issued on Sept. 28. The Perry plant continues to operate safely, said James Caldwell, NRC Regional Administrator. However, the NRC has increased its oversight of the Perry plant because of previous equipment problems. FirstEnergy presented us with a plan to improve these problem areas. We are monitoring these plans and the utilitys actions to improve performance closely. The Confirmatory Action Letter is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System, or ADAMS, at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Use Accession Number ML052710221 to locate the letter. Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRC Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209. Last revised Friday, October 07, 2005 ***************************************************************** 12 Tallahassee Democrat: New nuke? | 10/07/2005 | Nuclear power may be an option The news that Florida might get another nuclear plant, possibly one built in Central or North Florida, contributes to the political dynamic of Tallahassee's conversation about energy sources, their costs, risks and availability. If Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy decides to go forward with this, it would be constructing the first nuclear power plant in the United States in 27 years. Given justifiable skepticism that remains since the Three Mile Island near-meltdown at the nuclear plant in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in what is now Ukraine in 1986, this proposal could make our local debate over burning coal as an energy source look like child's play. But Floridians ought not rule out the possibility that it may well be a new day for nuclear power. The responsible thing is to consider this option in light of today's industry and the strength of regulations governing it. The base line here in Tallahassee is that we need to get away from almost complete dependence upon natural gas to generate electricity. City utility customers (who also happen to live within the city limits) get to give their view on whether one of those ways should be participation in a coal-fired power plant that is almost certain to be built in Taylor County. Yet even if the City Commission wins voter support for participating to the tune of 20 percent in that source of energy, a coal plant alone won't solve the long-term needs of this community - not with its high-powered users such as state government and universities, including that energy-munching gorilla, the Mag Lab. Progress Energy has 14 power plants in Florida already and City Commissioner Allan Katz has engaged in some conversations with the company regarding supplying power here. Mr. Katz wants that to be instead of the coal-plant deal with JEA of Jacksonville and several other partners. But it could be that an arrangement in addition to that would be worth considering. Consider all sources Nuclear power may not be in our immediate future but neither, or so it appears, does our inclination to reduce our dependency of electricity, regardless of how it's supplied. The market costs for oil and gas are volatile and increasingly expensive, and both are nonrenewable sources. Coal has its environmental and health risks. Safety concerns trump all others with regard to nuclear power, which has the virtue of no carbon-based emissions that are hard on the environment, and it is renewable. Likewise, nuclear plants are steadily much safer and more efficient financially, according to a consortium of about 25 power companies nationwide that are looking into nuclear generation as part of their portfolios of fuel. Certainly Tallahassee's political leaders cannot ignore this potential in planning our energy future. It is as important to consider at one end of the spectrum as championing and investing in alternative power (sun, wind, water) is at the other. ***************************************************************** 13 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Beaver Valley reactor gets new lease on life with new parts post-gazette.com] Friday, October 07, 2005 John Beale, Post-Gazette James Pope of Brentwood takes a photo of new steam generators as they are delivered by barge to the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport. The parts traveled from Spain and were brought from Mobile, Ala., to the facility. Mr. Pope, who works at the plant, was standing next to a cooling tower. By Jim McKay Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Employees of the Beaver Valley Power Station brought pocket cameras to work yesterday, eager to record the arrival of an oversized river barge that brings with it more job security. The barge was carrying nuclear reactor parts that should extend the plant's life at least three decades, ensuring that the birthplace of the nation's nuclear energy age will continue to go strong. "It's a rebirth, a renewal,'' Clifford Custer, an engineer with FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., said as a "Paul Bunyan" barge eased into a narrow slip at the plant along the Ohio River at Shippingport, the site of the nation's first large-scale nuclear power plant that opened in 1957 and was decommissioned in 1984. "It's a big day for Beaver Valley." The barge was carrying three 370-ton steam generators and an 80-ton nuclear reactor vessel head that are key parts of a $250 million project to extend the life of the power station's Unit 1, a pressurized water reactor designed by Monroeville-based Westinghouse Electric Co., which also designed the first reactor at Shippingport. Installation of the equipment is expected to temporarily employ at various times 2,000 construction and trades workers. FirstEnergy Nuclear's parent, Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., estimates the payroll for on-site workers during the project will exceed $100 million. The station, located 22 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, contains two nuclear power plant units. The one being refurbished began producing electricity in 1976 that is sold to consumers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Unit 2 began production in 1987. The replacement equipment designed by Westinghouse in Monroeville was fabricated in Maliano, Spain, by Equipos Nucleares S.A. The United States no longer has the capacity as it once did to produce such parts. But there are some local subcontractors. The Curtiss-Wright Electro-Mechanical Division in Cheswick, a former Westinghouse business, supplied control rod drive mechanisms. Penn State Tool & Die, of Mount Pleasant, also supplied components. The steam generators and reactor head, covered in a special blue shrink wrap to keep out moisture during the long voyage, were loaded into a special Dutch-operated large cargo ship that left Maliano on Sept. 3 bound for New Orleans. The shipment was headed for the Atlantic Ocean when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region, devastating New Orleans. The ship dodged storms across the Atlantic and, because of the damage to the Louisiana port, diverted course to Mobile, Ala., shunning Galveston, Texas, because of approaching Hurricane Rita. The double-sized barge used to move the equipment via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers was lost temporarily during Hurricane Katrina. It later was found intact by a helicopter crew and transported to Mobile to meet the ocean ship. Lew Myers, FirstEnergy Nuclear's executive vice president in charge of special projects, kept close tabs on the weather during the ocean voyage and the subsequent trip by river barge from Mobile. Changes in course were made with the weather. "We were having to figure this stuff out every day,'' said Mr. Myers, who made the decision to choose Mobile as Hurricane Rita was approaching. "The hurricane did throw us a curve. It was interesting.'' After the cargo is inspected, the barge will be lowered or sunk to the river bottom, allowing the equipment to be driven off on a special transport vehicle. The parts will be installed during a scheduled refueling outage at the plant beginning in February. The steam generators, which use water heated in the nuclear reactor to make steam that drives electrical generating equipment, are each 68 feet long and nearly 15 feet in diameter. Plant manager Bill Pearce said the old generators were nearing the end of their useful life, and that the reactor head was being replaced as well since it is more economical to do it at the same time. The reactor head caps the heavy duty metal vessel where the nuclear reaction takes place and provides access for control rods that regulate the reaction. It is more than 15 feet in diameter. To replace the equipment, construction crews will create what Mr. Pearce called a $25 million hole -- a temporary opening in the Unit 1 Containment building, built of concrete several feet thick and poured around large interwoven steel rebar. A spray of water under very high pressure will then be used to remove the concrete walls, exposing the rebar and a liner plate that will be reused. The reactor head has been upgraded with special metal alloys to avoid problems of the type that occurred at FirstEnergy's Davis-Bessie nuclear plant east of Toledo, Ohio. When that plant was shut down for maintenance in 2002, workers discovered a leak had allowed boric acid to eat nearly through a 6-inch thick steel cap on the plant's reactor head. The existing steam generators and reactor head will be removed from the containment building through the hole and moved to a long-term storage facility with 30-inch thick concrete walls on the site. The replacement components will be installed in reverse order. To complete the job, the opening will be closed using the liner plate and reinforcing bars that were removed earlier. The hole will be sealed with concrete and tested to make sure it meets original design requirements. (Jim McKay can be reached at or at 412-263-1322.) Copyright ©1997-2005 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights ***************************************************************** 14 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point 3 generating electricity once again By GREG CLARY gclary@thejournalnews.com (Original publication: October 7, 2005) BUCHANAN — Indian Point 3 was expected to be at full power this morning after Entergy officials started putting the nuclear reactor back online late Wednesday night, company officials said. The nuclear power plant, one of two working reactors at the site, was taken off the state's power grid Saturday after a control rod for the unit's fuel assembly fell into a braking position on its own, requiring engineers to further slow it down to about two-thirds of its capacity. Since Saturday's shutdown, workers have repaired an electrical circuit for the control rod and respliced 35 other similar connections to reduce the odds that another control rod would drop on its own. The rods are held in place by electromagnets. The reactors at Indian Point each provide about 1,000 megawatts to the state's power grid — about 10 percent of the grid's capacity. Officials from Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns Indian Point, said the shutdown was necessary to make the repairs properly. "Safety is our top priority," said Mike Kansler, president of Entergy Nuclear Northeast, "and we will take either unit offline for as long as necessary in order to ensure the safe continued operation of the site." Public safety was the topic of a congressional subcommittee hearing yesterday in Washington, D.C., where Rep. Sue Kelly, R-Katonah, called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reassess emergency plans related to Indian Point in the wake of evacuation problems on the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina. "The soundness of the emergency preparedness plans for the area surrounding the plant has always been a top-level concern in my district," Kelly told top FEMA officials. "And I'm sorry to say that confidence in the plans is not nearly as strong as it should be — and with good reason." Kelly cited an independent, state-commissioned review of emergency preparedness for Indian Point that identified gaps in the evacuation plans for a 10-mile radius around the plants. "Due to the inadequacies exposed by Katrina, can we expect FEMA to conduct another review of the evacuation plan for the area surrounding Indian Point?" Kelly asked. FEMA officials declined to comment specifically about Kelly's concerns, but issued the following statement via e-mail to The Journal News. "The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been working with state and local emergency planners through the Radiological Emergency Preparedness program since the early 1980s to ensure that emergency plans around nuclear facilities are reviewed and regularly exercised to ensure safety," the statement read. "This has been occurring at the Indian Point location since those early years of the program." The agency said it evaluates and "exercises" the plans of those with off-site emergency responsibilities every other year to ensure that they provide for the health and safety of those living nearby. FEMA officials said that Indian Point participated in such an exercise in June 2004 and that it proved its ability to provide for the health and safety of the surrounding community. Copyright 2005 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company; Notice of Release of Land FR Doc E5-5527 [Federal Register: October 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 194)] [Notices] [Page 58758] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07oc05-140] from the Jurisdiction of Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company's Facility Operating License No. DPR-36 On March 15, 2004, as supplemented by letters on September 2, 2004, and May 16, 2005, Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (Maine Yankee) submitted a request to amend its license to release the remaining land under License No. DPR-36 with the exception of the land where the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) is located, and a 3.17 acre parcel of land adjacent to the ISFSI. Notification of the amendment request was published in the Federal Register on May 5, 2004 (Vol. 69, No. 101, Page 69769). The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff reviewed the Final Status Survey Report (FSSR) and concludes that: (i) Dismantlement and decontamination activities were performed in accordance with the approved License Termination Plan (LTP), and (ii) Maine Yankee's FSSR Supplements 1-10A demonstrate that the land to be released from Facility Operating License No. DPR-36, meets the radiological criteria for unrestricted use, as defined by 10 CFR 20.1402, by meeting site release criteria of 10 millirem (Total Effective Dose Equivalent (TEDE) per year over background (all pathways) and 4 millirem (as distinguishable from background) TEDE per year for groundwater sources of drinking water in accordance with the approved LTP. Therefore, NRC is releasing all land from the jurisdiction of license DPR-36 except the land where the ISFSI is located, and a 3.17 acre parcel of land adjacent to the ISFSI. For further details with respect to this action, see the license amendment request dated March 15, 2004, as supplemented by letters dated September 2, 2004, and May 16, 2005, and the Environmental Assessment dated February 12, 2003, available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML040990045, ML042600417, ML051440411, and ML030340122). Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 30th day of September, 2005. For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Daniel M. Gillen, Deputy Director, Decommissioning Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-5527 Filed 10-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 16 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding FR Doc E5-5528 [Federal Register: October 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 194)] [Notices] [Page 58760] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07oc05-142] of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Release of Facility for Unrestricted Use for the Department of Veterans Affairs Chicago Health Care System Lakeside Campus--Lakeside Hospital Building, Chicago, IL AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Snell, Senior Health Physicist, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region III, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2443 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois 60532; telephone: (630) 829-9871; fax number: (630) 515-1259; or by e-mail at wgs@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuing a license amendment to Material License No. 03-23853-01VA issued to the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) (the licensee), to authorize release of its Chicago Health Care System, Lakeside Campus--Lakeside Hospital Building in Chicago, Illinois for unrestricted use, and has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this amendment in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. II. EA Summary The purpose of the proposed amendment is to allow for the release of the licensee's Chicago, Illinois facility for unrestricted use. The DVA has occupied the Lakeside Hospital Building since it was built in about 1955, and was authorized to use byproduct, source, and special nuclear material for medical diagnosis, therapy, and research beginning in 1957. The Chicago, Illinois facility is a permittee under the DVA NRC Master Material License (MML) Number 03-23853-01VA, and on April 27, 2005, requested the NRC approve the release of the facility for unrestricted use. The approval is consistent with a November 10, 2004, Letter of Understanding (LOU) between the NRC and the DVA for DVA permittees. The LOU requires the DVA to submit for NRC review, permittee requests for the release of buildings for unrestricted use where radioactive materials with a half-life greater than 120 days were used. The DVA identified six isotopes of concern with half-lives greater than 120 days that it used in the Lakeside Hospital Building since 1957: hydrogen-3, carbon-14, chlorine-36, cobalt-60, nickel-63, and cesium-137. The DVA has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the licensee termination criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20 for unrestricted release. The staff has prepared an EA in support of the proposed license amendment. Based on its review, the staff determined there were no radiological or non-radiological environmental impacts associated with the action since no radiological remediation activities were required to complete the proposed action. However, the proposed action excludes approval for the release of an area of the facility where nuclear medicine activities are being performed in compliance with 10 CFR 35.100 and 35.200, an activity in which only short-lived radioactive isotopes are used (i.e., isotopes with a half-life less than 120 days). The licensee verified compliance with 10 CFR 20.1402 in this area for isotopes with half-lives longer than 120 days. Because the LOU allows the DVA to release facilities for unrestricted use without NRC approval if only isotopes of less than 120 days were used, when the VA ceases all licensable activities related to the diagnostic nuclear medicine operation, the VA may release that area for unrestricted use without NRC approval. III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared an EA in support of the proposed license amendment to release the site for unrestricted use. The staff has found that the radiological environmental impacts from the proposed amendment are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). Additionally, no non-radiological or cumulative impacts were identified. On the basis of the EA, NRC has concluded that there are no significant environmental impacts from the proposed amendment and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement. IV. Further Information Documents related to this action, including the application for amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this notice are: The DVA letter dated April 27, 2005 (Accession No. ML051190353); the Final Status Survey Report, VA Chicago--Lakeside Campus, Medical Sciences Building, December 8, 2004 (Accession No. ML051190353); and the EA summarized above (Accession No. ML052690312). If you do not have access to ADAMS, or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Dated at Lisle, Illinois, this 28th day of September 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Jamnes L. Cameron, Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety Region III. [FR Doc. E5-5528 Filed 10-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 17 NRC: Arizona Public Service Company; Notice of Partial Withdrawal of FR Doc E5-5529 [Federal Register: October 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 194)] [Notices] [Page 58758] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07oc05-139] Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Arizona Public Service Company (the licensee) to partially withdraw its May 28, 2003, application for proposed amendments to Facility Operating License No. NPF-41, NF-51, and NPF-74 for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, located in Maricopa County, Arizona. The proposed amendments would modify several surveillance requirements (SRs) in Technical Specifications (TSs) 3.8.1 and 3.8.4 on alternating current and direct current sources, respectively, for plant operation. The revised SRs would have notes deleted or modified to allow the SRs to be performed, or partially performed, in reactor modes that are currently not allowed by the TSs. The current SRs are not allowed to be performed in Modes 1 and 2. Several of the current SRs also cannot be performed in Modes 3 and 4. The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2003 (68 FR 40709). However, the licensee partially withdrew the proposed change in two separate letters. By letter dated June 23, 2004, the licensee withdrew the proposed changes to the notes in SR 3.8.4.7 and SR 3.8.4.8 and by letter dated September 27, 2005, the licensee withdrew the proposed changes to SRs 3.8.1.9, 3.8.1.10, and 3.8.1.14. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendments dated May 28, 2003, and the licensee's letters dated June 23, 2004, and September 27, 2005, which partially withdrew the application for license amendments. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e- mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of September 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Mel B. Fields, Senior Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-5529 Filed 10-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 18 NRC: Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Humboldt Bay Independent Spent FR Doc E5-5530 [Federal Register: October 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 194)] [Notices] [Page 58758-58760] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07oc05-141] Fuel Storage Installation; Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Regarding a Proposed Exemption The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is considering issuance of an exemption, pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from the provisions of 10 CFR 72.72(d) to Pacific [[Page 58759]] Gas and Electric Company (PG or applicant). The requested exemption would allow PG to maintain a single set of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste records in accordance with the requirements of its NRC-approved Quality Assurance program, which satisfies the criteria of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix B, for the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at the Humboldt Bay Power Plant (HBPP) in Humboldt County, California. Environmental Assessment (EA) Identification of Proposed Action In its application for an ISFSI license, submitted on December 15, 2003, PG requested an exemption from the requirement in 10 CFR 72.72(d); which states in part that, ``Records of spent fuel, high- level radioactive waste, and reactor-related GTCC waste containing special nuclear material meeting the requirements in paragraph (a) of this section must be kept in duplicate. The duplicate set of records must be kept at a separate location sufficiently remote from the original records that a single event would not destroy both sets of records.'' The proposed action before the Commission is whether to grant this exemption pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7. Need for the Proposed Action The applicant stated that ISFSI spent-fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and reactor-related GTCC waste records will be maintained in a manner consistent with the records of the HBPP, which are stored in accordance with the NRC-approved Quality Assurance (QA) program. The approved QA program for the HBPP complies with the requirements established in 10 CFR part 50, Appendix B, which incorporates by reference the specific recordkeeping requirements in 10 CFR 50.71(d)(1). PG did not request exemption from the records retention period requirements of 10 CFR 72.72(d). The applicant seeks to provide consistency in recordkeeping practices for the records related to the proposed Humboldt Bay ISFSI and those records currently maintained under the HBPP QA program. The exemption would also preclude the need for PG to construct and operate a separate, second records storage facility to store a duplicate set of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and reactor-related GTCC waste records. In its application, PG indicated that the NRC-approved QA program for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant will be applied to all Humboldt Bay ISFSI activities, and that program meets the provisions of ANSI N45.2.9-1974. The requirements in ANSI N45.2.9-1974 have been endorsed by the NRC as an acceptable method of satisfying the recordkeeping requirements of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix B, which states, in part, that ``[c]onsistent with applicable regulatory requirements [including 10 CFR 50.71(d)(1)], the applicant shall establish requirements concerning record retention, such as duration, location, and assigned responsibility.'' Further requirements for the maintenance of nuclear power plant records are provided in 10 CFR 50.71(d)(1), which states, in part, that, ``The licensee shall maintain adequate safeguards against tampering with and loss of records.'' ANSI N.45.2.9-1974 also satisfies the requirements of 10 CFR 72.72 by providing for adequate maintenance of records regarding the identity and history of the spent fuel in storage. Such records would be subject to, and need to be protected from, the same types of degradation mechanisms or loss as nuclear power plant Quality Assurance records. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action An exemption from the requirement to store a duplicate set of ISFSI records at a separate location has no impact on the environment. Storage of records does not change the methods by which spent fuel will be handled and stored at the HBPP ISFSI and does not affect the potential for radiological or non-radiological effluents associated with the ISFSI. Alternative to the Proposed Action As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action and the alternative action are similar. Agencies and Persons Consulted On August 30, 2005, the NRC staff discussed the environmental assessment for the proposed action with Ms. Barbara Byron, Senior Nuclear Policy Advisor for the California Energy Commission (CEC). On September 14, 16, and 27, 2005, the staff provided additional details regarding the proposed storage of the Humboldt Bay ISFSI records, in response to Ms. Byron's requests for clarification. The CEC had no further comments on the EA. The NRC staff has determined that a consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act is not required because the proposed action is administrative or procedural in nature and will not affect listed species or critical habitat. The NRC staff has also determined that the proposed action is not a type of activity having the potential to cause effects on historic properties because it is an administrative or procedural action. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Finding of No Significant Impact The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed in accordance with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR part 51. Based upon the foregoing EA, the Commission finds that the proposed action of granting the exemption from 10 CFR 72.72(d), so that PG may store spent fuel records for the proposed ISFSI in a single records storage facility, in accordance with its NRC-approved Quality Assurance program (which satisfies the criteria of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix B, and 10 CFR 50.71(d)(1)), will not significantly impact the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined that a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate, and that an environmental impact statement for the proposed exemption is not necessary. For further details with respect to this exemption request, see the PG ISFSI license application, and the accompanying Safety Analysis Report, dated December 15, 2003. The request for exemption was docketed under 10 CFR 72, Docket No. 72-27. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of NRC's ``Rules of Practice,'' final NRC records and documents regarding this proposed action are publicly available in the records component of NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). These documents may be inspected at NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397- 4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. [[Page 58760]] Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of September, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. James R. Hall, Senior Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-5530 Filed 10-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 19 York Daily Record: Nuke evacuation plans under fire - [ydr.com] [York Daily Record/Sunday News] NRC engineer supports claim that nuclear plants lack proper plans for preschools and day-care centers. By TOM JOYCE Daily Record/Sunday News Friday, October 7, 2005 At bottom: · THE ISSUE Larry Christian has been arguing for years now that the state doesn’t have adequate evacuation plans for day-care centers and preschools in the immediate vicinity of nuclear power plants. And he’s hardly alone in that assessment. He has collected thousands of signatures on a petition making that same claim. But he hopes the latest person to side with him can give his argument more heft. That would be Michael Jamgochian, an engineer with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Jamgochian, a 40-year NRC veteran, helped draft the original public evacuation plans that the federal government developed after the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. Within the NRC, Jamgochian recently filed a memo called a “differing professional opinion,” essentially meaning that he disagrees with an official policy or practice within the agency. In that memo, Jamgochian alleges that nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania lack proper evacuation plans for preschools and day-care centers. They are thus, Jamgochian argues, noncompliant with their requirements under the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And as such, they’re falling short of the standards they must meet for their NRC licenses. Jamgochian goes so far as to suggest that the NRC start a 120-day countdown, at the end of which power plants must shut down if they don’t comply. The whole thing started a few years back, when New Cumberland resident Christian sent his daughter to a nursery school near Three Mile Island. It was soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and he wanted to know what the nursery school’s plans were in case of an emergency involving the nuclear plant. He learned that, although schools within a 10-mile radius of nuclear plants must have an emergency evacuation plan, no such requirement exists for preschools and day-care centers. He started a personal crusade to change that, finding allies in nuclear-safety activists and some state lawmakers. In 2002, he and local nuclear safety activist Eric Epstein filed a petition with the NRC, asking that mandatory evacuation plans include day care and preschool. Jamgochian, who is based in Washington, D.C, said he was the one ultimately assigned to review that petition. “There is no evidence that I found to show me that Mr. Christian is wrong,” Jamgochian said. In 2004, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a law addressing day-care and preschool preparation for an emergency response in general — not specifically for an emergency involving a nuclear plant. That law stated that each for-profit day-care center in the state must have an emergency plan, and that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency must develop guidelines and provide assistance if asked. But according to federal law, that isn’t enough, Jamgochian said. According to Jamgochian, federal law says that state and local government must have an emergency response plan for schools within a 10-mile radius of the plants. And the law doesn’t differentiate between preschool or high school, private or public. It’s up to state and local governments to put those plans in place, Jamgochian said. It’s up to the owners of nuclear plants to make sure they’re in place. And it’s up to FEMA to confirm they’re in place as well, before recommending to the NRC whether or not the plants should be licensed. And that didn’t happen anywhere along the chain in Pennsylvania, Jamgochian said. He describes himself as “just a peon” in the NRC, and said that any decisions regarding Christian’s petition, agency policy or the continued operation of nuclear plants are not, ultimately, up to him. Even if the NRC did act on his recommendation and institute the 120-day countdown to compliance or closure, he strongly doubts closure would be necessary. All state or local government has to do, he said, is make arrangements for buses to pick up the kids in the event of a radiation leak, and designate a drop-off point where parents could pick them up. Maria Smith, a spokeswoman for PEMA, said the agency has heard about the memo. But since it’s been distributed in an “unofficial fashion,” PEMA is unable to vouch for its legitimacy. She did say, however, that PEMA and the state Department of Public Welfare have been working to make sure that day-care centers develop their own emergency preparedness plans. Christian has seen both of his children outgrow preschool in the years since he started on this. But he still wants to see it corrected for the sake of other people’s children. THE ISSUE Activist Larry Christian says: Pennsylvania does not have adequate evacuation plans for day-care centers and preschools near nuclear power plants. Nuclear Regulatory Commission engineer Michael Jamgochian’s response: “There is no evidence that I found to show me that Mr. Christian is wrong.” The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s view: PEMA and the state Department of Public Welfare have been working to make sure that day-care centers develop their own emergency preparedness plans. Copyright © York Daily Record 2005 122 S. George St., P.O. Box 15122 York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000 ***************************************************************** 20 ITAR-TASS: Reactor switched off at Ukr Zaporozhye plant for planned repair 07.10.2005, 14.34 DONETSK, October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Reactor No Three at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine was switched off overnight for planned repair that is expected to last till November 30. Five reactors are working now at the nuclear power plant, Europe's biggest. The total capacity was 4,250 megawatt by 07:00 Moscow time on Friday, a station source told Itar-Tass on Friday. The plant accounts for almost half of the total electric energy produced by Ukraine's nuclear plants. Thirteen out of Ukraine's 15 reactors work at present, the Energoatom company said. The radiation, fire-prevention and ecological situation at the stations is within the normal levels. © ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, ***************************************************************** 21 Carlisle Business Gazette: HOPES FOR NEW GENERATION OF NUCLEAR POWER AT Business Gazette © 2003 SELLAFIELD Published in Times &Star on Friday, October 7th 2005 HOPES that a new nuclear power station could be built at Sellafield were raised this week as the Government said it will decide soon if it is to build a new generation of plants. Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson indicated that the Government would make a decision next year. He added: We have to make a decision pretty soon if we are going to have nuclear new-build. Because all of our nuclear power stations will be retired over the next 20 to 25 years, we have to make a decision now whether to replace them as part of that general policy to concentrate on the effect on the climate, concentrate on security of supply and affordability for the customer. The nuclear debate was thrown open last week when Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Government would review all energy options  a move which was followed on Friday by the announcement that British Nuclear Fuels wants to sell off British Nuclear Group which manages sites including Sellafield. A statement issued on behalf of British Nuclear Group chief executive Mike Parker said: Following consideration of a number of strategic options for British Nuclear Group, the preference of the BNFL board is that it should be sold. The board feels that this would be in the best interest of the company and its employees and we all wish to see British Nuclear Group in the strongest possible position to win the upcoming competitions. He added a decision would only be taken after consultation with the Government. ***************************************************************** 22 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Urged to Come Up With Plutonium Plan From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 7, 2005 8:01 PM By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The absence of a government plan to consolidate weapons-grade plutonium is driving up storage and security costs and increasing the risks of accidental release of the highly hazardous material, experts said Friday. The Energy Department also lacks the capability to fully monitor the condition of plutonium to ensure continued safe storage, Gene Aloise, director of natural resources and environment for the Government Accountability Office, testified to a House Energy subcommittee. Charles Anderson, assistant secretary of environmental management, said a plan for consolidation would be ready within a year or two. He acknowledged that failure to consolidate the 50 metric tons of plutonium no longer needed for nuclear weapons ``would be a tremendous cost to the taxpayers.'' The General Accountability Office, the investigative office of Congress, estimated in a July report that it would cost $85 million a year to continue storing plutonium at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington and that the goal of cleaning up that site, now scheduled to be completed by 2035, is in question. When nuclear weapons production stopped in 1989, the DOE had plutonium inventories at Hanford, Rocky Flats in Colorado, Los Alamos in New Mexico, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Aloise noted that while DOE has not made a final decision on consolidation, it has proceeded with plans to establish adequate capacity to store the material at Savannah until it can be processed into a form for permanent disposition at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Anderson said the department had no current plans to further consolidate plutonium at Savannah, and that the DOE will not move any plutonium until all requirements are met. Aloise said another problem was that the DOE has relied on individual sites to develop their own plans. He said one-fifth of Hanford's plutonium is in the form of 12-foot-long nuclear fuel rods, while Savannah's storage plan assumed Hanford would package the material in DOE's standard storage containers, five inches by 10 inches. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, said consolidation could result in security improvements and significant cost savings. He said he was pleased that Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman this year created a committee to determine how and where nuclear materials should be consolidated. According to Aloise, plutonium stabilization and packaging are completed at Rocky Flats, Hanford and Savannah, and Savannah has receved nearly 1,900 containers from Rocky Flats. Once the operation is completed, the DOE will have nearly 5,700 storage containers that could eventually be shipped to Savannah, he said. Plutonium poses health and environmental hazards and a terrorist attack on a facility with plutonium could have devastating consequences. Plutonium could also be used by terrorists to create improvised nuclear devices or ``dirty bombs.'' ^--- On the NET: GAO: http://www.gao.gov/ Department of Energy: http://www.doe.gov/ Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 23 Bellona: Russia to diminish US financial participation in nuclear objects safety project Russia is set to diminish US financial participation in nuclear objects safety project, the head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power Alexander Rumyantsev was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying on September 22. 2005-10-07 12:59 Meanwhile, Russian nuclear materials are totally safe from terrorists, he said. “We are going to diminish U.S. participation for such programs,” he said. The US keep providing financial support for Russia to ensure safety and control over the nuclear materials in the country, but the nature of this support is changing, Rumyantsev added. “The ideology of the US assistance to Russia has changed. We are now working together at the devices that will allow to locate the fissile materials,” he said. At present, said the Rosatom chief, Russian nuclear materials are absolutely safe from terrorists. “The way they are guarded, I cannot imagine such a thing. The nuclear materials could only be conquered in a full-scale battle,” he was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying. Many terrorism experts say al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have focused for years on lightly secured nuclear facilities in Russia and other states in the former Soviet Union as potential sources for equipment and material needed to assemble an atomic weapon. The commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks recommended that US officials undertake a “maximum effort” to place Russian nuclear equipment off-limits to terrorists, Mosnews reported. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 24 BBC: Kyrgyz hunt for radioactive matter Last Updated: Friday, 7 October 2005 By Rob Broomby BBC News, Kyrgyzstan [Sign prohibiting entry to an area] Authorities are unsure where some radioactive material ended up The Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan is battling to stop terrorists from getting hold of deadly radioactive materials. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the centralised control of dangerous materials melted away, and many were simply lost or abandoned. The cash-strapped republic has no real radioactive inventory and little idea where to look. The rugged, mountainous country is now struggling to regain control before the materials are scooped up by the likes of al-Qaeda's bomb makers. Needle in a haystack The Kyrgyz authorities have confirmed that in the last 12 months, they have secured or disposed of a staggering 1,000 items of known radioactive material, judged to be vulnerable to theft or terrorism, acting with American help. They still have 500 items left to deal with. But it is the material which is still missing that presents a greater challenge. With Islamic extremism on the march in the region, and drugs money pouring through the country from Afghanistan, adding radioactive materials to the mix is a dangerous combination. "These materials need to be secured," said Carolyn MacKenzie of the UN's nuclear watchdog the IAEA, during a quick tour of the country. [View of Kyrgyzstan on the border with Kazakhstan] Security is lax on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan "People are killed or injured each year because large sources of radiation are around the world," she said. "They should not be available for people to use maliciously." Ms MacKenzie's task is gargantuan. She needs to coax and cajole the Kyrgyz authorities to look for lost radioactive material, so called "orphan sources" - items forgotten or abandoned with little or no documentation. It is a race to find a needle in 10,000 haystacks. "The person finding the materials," she said, "[is] typically an illiterate scrap worker." "They see the precious metals around the radioactive source, and they think... money". But if they try and open it, "the radiation is so intense it can kill them," she said. Porous borders Klara Mamushkina of the Kygyrz health ministry is responsible for radiation monitoring. The ministry is chronically short of funds, and its equipment is obsolete. There are sources they ha lost, and they want to address that now Carolyn MacKenzie, IAEA She said she had no idea how many radioactive sources were still unaccounted for, but added: "We do need to search for these sources". Officials also need to make an inventory, but even that costs money they do not have. According to Carolyn MacKenzie, the authorities need a plan of action. "We can't search the whole country," she said. Obvious areas of concern are the nation's borders. Kuban Noruzbaev, of Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Ecology and Emergency, said there were "concrete examples" of unaccounted radioactive sources which people tried to illegally import into the country. "People have sometime tried to sell them or illegally import them into the country to re-sell. Scrap metal passing through our territory is (also) sometimes polluted with radioactivity," he said. Along the porous border with Kazakhstan, frontier guards are few and far between. Radiation monitoring of the scores of scrap metal trucks crossing in and out of the country is patchy. The area is a smugglers' paradise. Villagers along the border claim the corruption that acts as a lubricant for terrorism is rife. A customs official told me that Afghan heroin, with a street value of up to $250bn, flowed through Kyrgyzstan. If just a tiny percentage is spent of that is on bribes to policemen and others, he said, "the impact could be huge". "It gives you enormous influence, and the ability to buy what you want, whether it be drugs, weapons or weapons-grade plutonium." The largest missing radioactive sources are Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs), which traditionally powered mountain top radio transmitters or remote lighthouses. If dispersed by a simple explosion, the deadly Strontium 90 inside would take over 200 years to decay. Such a radioactive bomb might kill few people directly, but it could cause panic, as well as widespread economic damage rendering a target area unusable for years. An Oslo-based environmental group called the Bellona Foundation estimates that there are more than 1,500 unguarded RTGs in the former Soviet Union. "They are not that big, and it is easy to carry them with you," said Bellona spokesman Nils Boehmer, adding that they are therefore ideal for a terrorist wanting to build a bomb. It is a chilling combination - radioactive material which is portable and available. Thieves would probably succumb to the intense radiation, but a suicide team may be prepared to try. But at the end of her trip of remote mountain airfields and crumbling factory complexes of Kyrgyzstan, Carolyn MacKenzie was upbeat. "They realise that they have some problems" she said. "There are sources they have lost, and they want to address that now." "The good news is they are very anxious to start. My challenge will be to get them the tools quickly enough." ***************************************************************** 25 Guardian Unlimited: Worker Dies After Nuclear Plant Accident From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 7, 2005 7:46 PM ATHENS, Ala. (AP) - A nuclear plant worker who was struck by heavy equipment inside a reactor has died from his injuries. Richard Haynes, 42, of Killen was helping move the equipment in the Unit 1 reactor at Browns Ferry when he was struck Saturday, plant officials said. He died Thursday. No possible reactive elements were nearby, said Browns Ferry spokesman Craig Beasley. A second injured worker was treated and released. Unit 1, which was shut down in 1985 amid safety concerns, is being prepared for a 2007 restart. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Haynes' employer, Illinois-based L.E. Myers, were investigating. Officials at the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the nuclear plant near Athens, said the last fatal accident at Browns Ferry was in 1985 when a piece of a crane fell through an office roof and struck a man. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 26 Yokwe: Loss-of-Damages From U.S. Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands Overestimated, Says US Report Everything Marshall Islands :: http://www.yokwe.net Oct 08, 2005 - 12:57 AM Key oversight committees in the 109th Congress have held joint hearings on the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Changed Circumstances Petition, which requests $522 million in additional compensation for loss-of-use of Enewetak and Bikini atolls due to U.S. nuclear testing. In its review released August 12, 2005, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), reported that the $522 million appears to be significantly overstated because the methodology -- sample rent data, assumptions, and statistical procedures (i.e., the sampling technique and the use of the exponential regression model) -- overestimates the per-acre rental rate for land on Enewetak and Bikini, the key variable in the loss-of-use calculation. Rents on Enewetak and Bikini are overestimated because an exponential regression model was applied to rents established not in a competitive, free market for agricultural land on Enewetak and Bikini, but rather to government-established, and predominantly commercial, rents on the more urbanized and densely populated, Majuro and Kwajalein atolls. Most land in the RMI is leased at "the official government rate" established by the RMI cabinet. This rate, which was set by the RMI at $2,500/acre on January 1, 1979 and increased to $3,000/acre on October 1, 1989, serves as the benchmark for all lease transactions. The RMI government is not only the tenant in over 40% of the leases -- a major source of the demand for RMI land -- but RMI government officials were also effectively the landlords during the estimation period when rents were government-controlled. Applying this methodology to unrepresentative sample rent data leads to projected rent/acre of $112,995/acre for the year 2027, which is equivalent to land asset value of nearly $1,774,024/acre. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal's (NCT) methodology also assumes that vaporized islands were not vaporized, undervalues the rentals on alternative atoll habitation, and assumes that 100% of the rental proceeds would have been saved. The NCT's estimated average rent/acre -- e.g., $4,105/acre in 1996 -- also appears overstated when compared to average agricultural rents in the United States for similar periods: $17.50/acre in Montana, $115/acre in Oregon, $210/acre in California, $88/acre in New Mexico (1995 figures), and $66.50/acre for the United States generally (1998 figures). Using an alternative economic methodology, and applying it to RMI's national income and product accounts data, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has developed alternative estimates of agricultural land rents for Enewetak and Bikini for the period 1982-1990, which are more consistent with the underlying real rental value of the two atolls (and the RMI economy), as well as with agricultural rents observed in the United States and in regions in the Pacific. CRS estimated rent/acre at $115/acre for the year1982 rising to $258/acre for 1990, as compared with the NCT's estimates of $1,902 for 1982 rising to $2,939 for 1990. Based on these rental rates, the CRS estimates gross loss-of-use rentals for 1982-1990 (before adjustments and interest) of $6.4 million, about 10% of the $64 million estimated by the NCT. According to the NCT, the amount of loss-of-use compensation already paid by the United States over this period is $36 million. --CRS Abstract for "Loss-of-Damages From U.S. Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands: Technical Analysis of the Nuclear Claims Tribunal's Methodology and Alternative Estimates" YokweOnline | Friday, October 07, 2005 | 118 Reads Dedicated to the people of the Marshall Islands! ©Aenet Rowa, webmaster - ***************************************************************** 27 Rocky Mountain News: Last radioactive waste leaves Rocky Flats By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News October 7, 2005 The end of an era arrived today when the last load of radioactive waste left Rocky Flats, loaded aboard a semi-truck headed for a hazardous waste dump in Utah. A few boxes filled with lightly contaminated survey and demolition equipment rolled away from the defunct nuclear weapons plant about 2 p.m., the last of some 62,000 waste shipments that have departed the facility since cleanup began in 1995. "It’s just the closure of an era," said Bobby Leonard, a 24-year employee at the site outside Boulder. "It’s a good thing to do, it’s the right thing to do for the Denver area," Leonard said. It was good to be part of the weapons program, Leonard said, and "Now, I’m proud to be part of the last cleanup efforts." The last bit of radioactive material leaving the site nearly coincides with completion of cleanup work at Rocky Flats by Kaiser-Hill Co., the contractor running the $7 billion demolition, cleanup and closure project for the Department of Energy. Remaining work, including grading and re-seeding the last of the land once covered with 800 buildings over 385 acres, should be complete within the next two weeks, said John Corsi, a spokesman for Kaiser-Hill. "It’s the first nuclear weapons site to be cleaned up and closed anywhere in the world," said Corsi, who also describes it as the "most complex environmental cleanup in U.S. history." When complete, Kaiser-Hill will have compressed what the DOE once described as a 70-year, $36 billion job into a decade, at less than one-fourth the initial price projection. 2005 © Rocky Mountain News ***************************************************************** 28 Bradenton Herald: State finds plume data incomplete | 10/07/2005 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer MANATEE - Lockheed Martin Corp. once again has failed to adequately define a plume of underground contamination in Tallevast, state environmental regulators say. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection submitted its latest review of Lockheed data in an e-mail letter to the defense giant on Wednesday. The DEP's review of Lockheed's Aug. 5 site assessment said plume hot spots raise more questions than data answer and instructed Lockheed to conduct more testing in several areas. Hot spots DEP identified match some of those identified by Wilma Subra, an independent environmental consultant from New Iberia, La., who reviewed Lockheed's data for The Herald in August. Many of the points Subra raised are echoed in the DEP review letter to Ron Helgerson, Lockheed's point man for Tallevast. The contamination hot spots identified by both DEP and Subra include the intersection of Tallevast Road and 15th Street East and the northeast corner of the residential community adjacent to 19th Street East. Lockheed spokeswoman Meredith Rouse Davis had no comment Thursday on DEP's latest findings. Davis said a power failure prevented Lockheed officials from receiving DEP's comment letter until late Thursday. Tim Varney, Tallevast residents' technical consultant, also declined comment until he had time to further study the DEP report. He urged caution in drawing any conclusions from the DEP report until data from the community's own tests of their private wells is complete. "We are not really sure that the plume has been fully defined in a vertical frame of reference," Varney said in a phone interview from Atlanta. "There may be a need for more monitoring wells." Varney added that many of the issues DEP raised were ones that he and Tallevast residents identified months ago. Plume needs more study Both DEP and Subra said the area surrounding the intersection of Tallevast Road and 15th Street East must be studied further. Currently, Lockheed places that intersection as well as households in the immediate area to the northeast outside of the plume. But some of those households are known to have contaminated private wells, some of which were the only sources of drinking water for those families until the summer of 2004. The Tallevast plume is now known to cover more than 131 acres. Its source has been identified as the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant at 1600 Tallevast Road in Tallevast. Lockheed purchased the plant in a 1996 corporate buy-out of Loral. Although Lockheed later sold the property to WPI Inc., the defense giant owned the plant when the contamination was discovered in 2000. Lockheed has assumed responsibility for assessing and cleaning up the toxic mess under DEP's supervision. The DEP report says Lockheed's data indicate the Tallevast Road intersection needs more study. Levels of industrial solvents 1,4 dioxane and trichloroethylene found in that area, coupled with the direction of groundwater flow, indicate that further study is needed, the DEP report said. Both Subra and DEP identified an area requiring more testing between the retention pond at the former Loral American Beryllium plant, now the site of WPI Inc., and the abandoned building at the intersection of Tallevast Road and 15th Street East. That abandoned building was the original site of American Beryllium before it built a new facility at 1600 Tallevast Road. Community concerns Wanda Washington and Laura Ward, leaders of Family Oriented Community United and Strong, a Tallevast advocacy group, have questioned Lockheed on how the northwest corner of the community, as well as the intersection that is just a short distance from the former Loral plant, could be outside the plume. DEP has called for additional sampling to the west and east of the intersection. DEP's demands for more testing, Ward said, validate the concerns residents expressed in May, when county crews closed Tallevast Road at 15th Street East to put in a permanent water main. The county began excavation without notifying the community or taking precautions that the digging might release toxins in the ground. After FOCUS leaders complained the digging was affecting their health, the county halted the project, covered the hole and re-opened the road. "The DEP report tells me that the county should have been more cautious," Ward said. "The county took Lockheed's word as gospel. This report shows that they shouldn't have done any digging in the area until DEP and others had a chance to digest all of Lockheed's data." County Administrator Ernie Padgett did not return The Herald's phone call for comment on the DEP report. Sampling discrepancies Another hot spot DEP identified is the northeast portion of the Tallevast community adjacent to 19th Street East. Lockheed's data from mobile lab samplings do not agree with samples taken from fixed monitoring wells, DEP said. DEP is asking Lockheed and Tetra Tech, the environmental consulting firm hired by Lockheed to do its testing, to explain why those discrepancies exist. In her report for The Herald, Subra also identified those discrepancies as a major problem in Lockheed's data. Lockheed attributed those discrepancies to differences in collection methods to get the samples. But DEP said that explanation fails to address the distinct plume shape and solvent distribution in this area. Subra said the discrepancies raise questions about the direction of the plume and distribution of industrial solvents that must be addressed before remediation plans are finalized. DEP also said Lockheed's assessment and risk evaluation of soil samples taken from areas surrounding the Loral plant are still incomplete. DEP is asking Lockheed to evaluate whether excavation of contaminated soil is warranted. 'A critical situation' Ward welcomed DEP's critical review of Lockheed data. "I am happy that they are looking at this critically because it is a critical situation," Ward said. "We are in a situation where we don't know what is happening and what impact it might have on us." Pamala Vazquez, spokeswoman for the DEP regional office in Tampa, vowed the agency would deliver the information Tallevast residents want. "We don't push this forward before we have a handle on what's going in that community," Vazquez said. "We have a community that needs to be assured that we are listening to them. We are going to make sure we adequately address their concerns and that we know what is going on in the soil and groundwater in Tallevast. We promised that and we are going to deliver." Lockheed has 60 days to address the questions raised in DEP's review, Vazquez said. That response is due Dec. 6. DEP tells Lockheed to continue testing Tallevast hot spots ***************************************************************** 29 AU ABC: Alice protesters vow to continue dump fight Friday, 7 October 2005. 13:19 (AEST)Friday, 7 October 2005. Scores of people have protested in Alice Springs this morning against a nuclear waste dump being built in their region. The crowd marched down the Todd Mall in Alice Springs, carrying banners such "Central Australia says 'no' to nuclear waste" and "We live here, this is our land". The protesters then gathered in a park to hear a range of speakers opposed to a dump being built on either of the two Central Australian sites proposed by the Federal Government. One of the traditional owners of the Mount Everard site, Raelene Martin, told the rally that the waste would poison the country. "We're here to look after our country," she said. "They start to bring that poison into our country, they're going to start killing us." Each speaker vowed to continue the fight against a dump. ***************************************************************** 30 reviewjournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Audit criticizes bonuses paid Oct. 07, 2005 Inspector general targets Energy Department's incentive fees to contractor By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy paid incentive fees to Yucca Mountain management contractor Bechtel SAIC for work that was found to be late or unacceptable, government auditors said in a report Thursday. The company was awarded payments by the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management "even though Bechtel delivered poor quality work and missed deadlines," the Energy Department inspector general said. The inspector general challenged $3.99 million out of $43.4 million in incentives for work performed on the proposed Nevada nuclear waste repository between February 2001 and September 2004. "The total costs of inappropriate incentive fees cannot be determined," the audit report said. The payments questioned by auditors included $2 million with work Bechtel performed on a license application for the Yucca repository. The findings are the latest blow to the nuclear waste project, which is years behind schedule and faces continued legal, political and technical challenges. Nevada critics of the Yucca Mountain project seized on the audit. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., called on Bechtel SAIC to give back the challenged money and for the Department of Energy to cease awarding bonuses. "I can't understand how DOE could not ask for the money back," Berkley said. "If a bank accidentally gave you money that is not in your account, you must return it. Same thing here, except Bechtel knew about it. This is a rip-off pure and simple." The audit illustrates shoddy DOE management, Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., said in a statement. And Rep. Jim Gibbons, D-Nev., said: "To pay out millions upon millions of dollars in bonuses for incomplete work, poor performance, and unacceptable products is the height of government waste and mismanagement." Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said similar activity in the private sector would be a firing offense, "no questions asked." Paul Golan, the principal deputy director of the Yucca project, said he accepted the audit findings. "I will use this report to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan that will provide clearer and more objective performance standards," he said in a letter responding to the audit. A DOE spokesman declined to comment further. Jason Bohne, a spokesman for Bechtel SAIC in Las Vegas, said the audit was being reviewed. "We stand by the work we have performed under the contract," Bohne said. "We take the report seriously and will review it carefully." The incentives were written into the Bechtel SAIC contract, which was valued at about $3.2 billion for five years. Bechtel SAIC and the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which operates the Yucca program, signed a "cost plus incentive fee" contract, an arrangement designed to reward companies for meeting goals and performing work to required quality levels. The contractor was offered an additional "super stretch incentive fee" if it would complete pre-license application technical documents ahead of schedule. The contract contained opportunities for Bechtel to earn $50.9 million in "performance based incentives" in the deal's early years. But auditors concluded that DOE managers failed to identify acceptable quality levels or specify how the contractors performance would be measured. Also, no procedures existed to adjust the fees when deadlines were missed, the report said. The investigators challenged incentives that the department paid in cases in which Bechtel needed more time to correct poor quality work and in which work scope was reduced because of poor performance. As an example, auditors said DOE paid most of a $17.7 million incentive fee for work on documents supporting the Yucca Mountain site recommendation in December 2001 though Bechtel needed more time to correct inconsistencies. The extra work caused a 22-day delay, auditors said. DOE paid all but $125,786 of the incentive fee, they said, and reported that the delay "was due to events beyond the contractor's control." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2005 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement ***************************************************************** 31 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Going nuclear in Washington Today: October 07, 2005 at 8:18:1 PDT Caliente's mayor hobnobs with pro-Yucca Mountain groups in the nation's capital LAS VEGAS SUN At first blush you wouldn't think any Nevadans would be attending a meeting of Yucca Mountain supporters in Washington. But there sat Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips on Wednesday, raving about the mountain as the perfect site for a nuclear waste dump. The meeting was called by pro-Yucca groups working to get the repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas in Nye County, opened as soon as possible. "We hear all the bad stuff about 'Yucky Mountain' but that site has great attributes," Phillips said at the meeting. Caliente, population 1,000, is in Lincoln County about 130 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Its most notable feature is a railroad. If Yucca Mountain is granted a license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Caliente might see some business. A proposed Energy Department transportation plan calls for a new railroad line to be built there so that trains carrying nuclear waste could be switched eastward to Yucca Mountain. Phillips' support of Yucca Mountain is rooted in his hope that it will mean jobs as the new line is constructed and Caliente becomes a switching point. This is the ultimate in shortsightedness. In January, flash flooding washed out railroad tracks near Caliente. Has the mayor thought about the consequences of a derailed train full of nuclear waste? Phillips should think more about his city, and more about the safety of the whole state, before turning his back on Nevada's long-standing fight against Yucca Mountain. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 DailyBulletin.com: Defense funding due for cleanup of perchlorate Opinions A $13 million windfall in the 2006 Department of Defense spending bill for perchlorate cleanup is a double blessing for some local communities. Not only will it mean safe drinking water in the area, but it also should prevent higher utility bills. The funding will benefit customers in Fontana, Rialto, Colton and surrounding unincorporated areas. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both California Democrats, are to be congratulated for successfully holding the Defense Department accountable for water pollution it caused. The federal money will be split evenly by Rialto, Colton, the Fontana Water Co. and the West Valley Water District. Perchlorate, used in manufacturing rocket fuel, munitions and fireworks, was stored in Defense Department bunkers during the 1950 and '60s at what is now the West Valley Sanitary Landfill. The chemical, which is believed to cause thyroid problems, particularly in infants, has forced the shutdown of numerous wells. Some are being treated, but many are out of service. And though it takes $1 million per well to install filtration equipment, and $350,000 to $500,000 a year to maintain the resin filters, the $13 million coming from the feds is a good start to cleaning up area contamination. It's been an ongoing battle to get responsible parties to even acknowledge their role, let alone clean up and pay for the mess. The senators' efforts in this regard are to be appreciated, especially if it keeps water bills lower. Fontana customers can be especially grateful, since perchlorate cleanup had been used as the basis for two exorbitant rate hikes proposed the Fontana Water Co. The $13 million appropriation would certainly weaken that argument. Copyright © 2005 Los Angeles Daily Bulletin ***************************************************************** 33 Salt Lake Tribune: Moab tailings appear to have stayed put Article Last Updated: 10/07/2005 01:36:37 AM Preliminary: Testing indicates contamination is stable By Lisa Church Special to The Tribune MOAB - Energy Department officials are breathing a tentative sigh of relief after preliminary testing of private and commercial Moab properties showed little indication that contaminated tailings from the Atlas Mill site have migrated to other areas of the community. "This is the cleanest site I've seen in terms of vicinity properties," said Don Metzler, DOE project manager for the Moab cleanup. Last month, the Energy Department cleared the way to relocate away from the banks of the Colorado River 11.9 million tons of radioactive waste left over from Cold War-era uranium processing. During the 10-year project, workers will haul the contaminated material by rail to a disposal site near Crescent Junction, about 30 miles north of Moab. Typically, the Energy Department also must clean up nearby properties that have been contaminated with material from the mill site either blown by wind or from material hauled away to be used as fill dirt or other uses. During cleanup of the Climax Millsite in Grand Junction, Colo., for example, the Energy Department also cleaned up 4,087 private and commercial properties that were contaminated with dirt hauled from the mill and used mostly for construction. In Monticello, workers cleaned up 424 properties. In 1971, the Environmental Protection Agency identified 130 properties in Moab that may have been contaminated with tailings. But in public meetings this week, Metzler said recent radiation tests at 17 of those properties turned up little evidence of contamination by uranium mill tailings. Several properties did exhibit elevated gamma levels, but the higher-than-average radiation levels were most likely caused by uranium that naturally exists in the area, and radioactive ore and rocks that have been stored on some properties for decades. The Energy Department only has authority to clean vicinity properties that are contaminated with mill tailings, Metzler said. For years, rumors have circulated about area residents hauling truckloads of tailings from the mill site for construction at homes and commercial properties. But site manager Joel Berwick said Thursday his research failed to uncover any actual cases. "There were some crazy stories," Berwick said. "But so far there is no evidence they are true." The Energy Department will test all 130 identified sites, and any others, should concerned residents request it, Metzler said. Grand County resident Jim Salmon urged Metzler to help residents remove radioactive ore from their property. "It's a matter of protecting the public health," Salmon said. Dianne Nielson, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, said her agency will work with Metzler to try to devise a solution for property owners with radioactive ore on their land. "If we've got problems in terms of elevated gamma levels, then let's figure out what we can do," Nielson said. lchurch@citlink.net © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 34 AU: ABC: Ockham's Razor: Nuclear Waste Storage in Australia 9 October 2005 - Presented by Robyn Williams Summary Dr Geoff Hudson from Melbourne is trained in nuclear physics and he makes the case for using Australia as a storing site for nuclear waste. Program Transcript Robyn Williams: So, the nuclear option keeps coming back. A few days ago, the former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, stirred up a gathering of Oxford alumni by saying Australia should consider becoming a repository for other people’s nuclear waste. The Labor party replied: probably not. The Coalition was more flexible. But what are the arguments? Well Geoff Hudson is trained in nuclear physics. He meets his physical colleagues on a regular basis in Melbourne to discuss these matters and most of them are convinced the idea has merit. What do you think? Geoff Hudson. Geoff Hudson: What should the world do about nuclear waste? Many of us would like that problem to disappear. We might like all nuclear reactors to be shut down, and all nuclear weapons to be destroyed. I certainly agree with the wish to remove nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. Their capacity for carnage and misery exceeds that of all other human creations. But we must distinguish between nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Both use the same forces but with totally different results. We in Australia can do little about nuclear weapons except avoid them. We should therefore turn our attention to the nuclear power industry. First let’s examine how much waste power plants produce. Consider production of 24,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. That is one megawatt day. A typical household consumes that over 2 or 3 years. To provide that a coal-fired power station will output more than 14 tonnes of carbon dioxide, while a nuclear station will output about 80 grams of used fuel rod to produce the same megawatt day. The 14 tonnes of carbon dioxide gas occupies 7000 cubic metres, more than 2 Olympic swimming pools full, while the 80 grams of fuel rod fills only a heaped teaspoon. Now let’s examine the dangers of nuclear power. The Chernobyl disaster directly killed 31 people and affected many thousands, but of those, less than 100 deaths have been clearly linked to the explosion in reactor number 4 on 26th April, 1986. The poor reactor design and management has been documented in detail. That was a mistake which is most unlikely to be repeated. The only other major accident in a nuclear reactor used for civilian power generation was at Three Mile Island. Almost all the radiation in that accident was contained and no-one lost their life as a result. This is the sum total of significant reactor accidents in the nuclear power generation industry which has now clocked up 11,000 plant years of operation. We can point to many other technological advances, the car, or the plane, which have killed many more people. The only real problem with nuclear power is the waste. People say it is dangerous and remains that way for thousands of years. The truth is that it starts off dangerous, but becomes much less dangerous over time. To quote the US nuclear regulatory commission: ‘In three months, for example, the spent fuel will have lost 50% of its radiation, in one year it will have lost about 80%, and in 10 years it will have lost 90%.’ This rapid decay of danger is some comfort, but there will still be some elements, Plutonium in particular, which will take many millennia to decay to background radiation levels. The half life of Plutonium is 24,000 years give or take a century or two, but what the anti-nuclear people don’t tell you is that the radiation from Plutonium is less than 3% of the radiation from fuel rods 10 years after removal, or 0.3% of that from freshly removed fuel rods. Despite this, the world needs a place to store the stuff. We all want it sealed off from the environment. Many locations are used now, but none is completely satisfactory. We know this because worldwide, about 200,000 tonnes of spent fuel rods are housed in temporary containment facilities. A great deal of effort has been directed at disposing of this waste, but it is clear that the absence of a solution has not stopped its production. Be in no doubt, railing against a plan for a nuclear repository will not stop the production of used fuel rods. China’s plans to establish dozens of large scale nuclear power plants will not be stopped because we do not have a safe way to store the waste at the moment. So what we need to consider is what would cause the waste to be released into the environment. Let’s divide the causes of release into man made causes and natural ones. The most likely natural causes of release would be earthquakes, floods and tsunamis, water corrosion, and large meteorite impacts. These possibilities impose three requirements on any site to be chosen as a repository. One. The site should be well away from any fault line. Storage sites would not be recommended for Japan, the San Andreas Fault, New Zealand or Indonesia. We should choose a country sitting in the middle of a large and stable tectonic plate. Two. The site should be dry. Water can corrode metals given enough time, and time it will have. We want a site in a desert. This will also eliminate the risk of fire. Without vegetation you cannot have large naturally occurring fires which could destroy the safety systems you would want. Three. The site should be well away from the sea. Preferably 100 kilometres inland. We have not seen tsunamis get 10km inland in recent history, but we need to think in terms of thousands of years, rather than hundreds. The human risk to a repository of radioactive waste is more difficult to manage. One clear risk is the use of the waste by terrorists. Their objective would be to make a dirty bomb: conventional explosives mixed with radioactive waste. If this achieved the same effect as Chernobyl, but in London, New York or Paris, the consequences would be catastrophic. Imagine if the recent bombs in London had been radioactive. Mass evacuation, transport shutdown, businesses stopped. The effects would dominate the city and be felt as far away as Australia. In fact, this is the main threat which nuclear waste poses to Australians. Not to health or the environment, but to our economy. It might not cause a depression but it could come close. To prevent this, we need to impose further requirements on the site: Four. The site should be very sparsely inhabited. If there are no people there, then there will be no infrastructure to support the people or the movement of people, so the chance that terrorists will get to the site and be able to remove waste from it will be limited. Five. The site should be on an island, so a ship is needed to get the waste to a place where it could not do a lot of damage. Six. The country governing the site must maintain the safety systems at the repository. It should have a stable government, preferably one with no history of civil war. The people in the country should be well educated and technologically advanced enough to know the risks of nuclear radiation, so that the protection of the site is preserved over changes in government. Is there a place on earth which satisfies these six criteria? The United States fails on three counts. The Yucca Mountain site, the intended US waste repository, is only 145 kilometres from Las Vegas and has three fault lines below it and volcanos nearby. Japan, another heavy user of nuclear power, is also out. The whole country is on the geologically active Pacific Rim. Europe has very few places where the population density is low, and equally fewer which are dry. There are places in Africa which have few people and which are dry, but the continent is famous for civil unrest. To my mind, the clear winner in this contest is Australia. There are lots of places a few hundred kilometres inland from the Indian Ocean which have virtually no rain, virtually no people, no roads, no motels, no telephones, no airstrips. Nothing to provide support for terrorists trying to steal nuclear waste. The continent sits in the middle of a large tectonic plate. We have occasional earthquakes, but mainly on the East Coast. It is the driest continent on the planet, with the possible exception of Antarctica, and there are lots of places which are very dry. But this is our country, I hear you say. We don’t want any damn nuclear waste here. We don’t even have nuclear reactors except for the pocket reactors at Lucas Heights near Sydney. Even Opal, the new one, is only 20 Megawatts, nothing like the 1000 or 2000 Megawatt things strewn across Europe, Japan and the US. Let them get rid of their own waste. Well there is a very good reason why we should exploit our unique capabilities in this activity: our own self interest. By putting our hand up, not only do we make the world a safer place, and protect our country from the major threat which nuclear waste poses to us, but we earn large sums of foreign exchange. Let me deal with the money first. The United States has a fund to solve the nuclear waste disposal problem, and all nuclear power plants in the US invest $24 for each megawatt day of electricity they produce, into this fund. In 2004, these plants produced 32-million megawatt days, so contributions to the fund last year totalled more than $US750-million. That’s nearly $AU50 for every man, woman and child in Australia. Of course you and I wouldn’t get that. But as a country we have a terrible balance of trade, even when the prices for our exports are the best we’ve had for years. So when they fall, as they will, our debt to the rest of the world will grow at an even faster rate. Our currency will devalue, and imports will become more expensive. That could easily cost us $1 a week. I should point out here that we sell uranium to the US for about $60 a kilogram but the money put aside by the US nuclear power companies amounts to $300 per kilogram of used fuel rod, so you are a mug to be in the uranium mining business if you could be in the waste storage business. So much for the money. I also said that it would make the world a safer place. I really believe that. Nuclear waste stored below a desert in Australia is much les likely to become a dirty bomb, than waste stored alongside a nuclear reactor in France or America. Taking the used fuel rods would greatly reduce the chance of a dirty bomb exploding in a large city, and that is the major risk that waste poses to us. The natural causes of release of waste into the environment are easy to manage in Australia, so we run a lower risk of radioactivity reaching our shores from a desert location inland from the Indian Ocean than from temporary storage facilities in California or Japan. I say, for our own good, we should offer a little patch of Australia to store the stuff. It doesn’t have to be that big. The 200,000 tonnes would occupy a space 100 metres by 100 metres by 10 metres high, with lots of rock fill in between. If you took a 1 square kilometre site, this spot would be 1% of the area. There are cattle stations in Australia which have areas exceeding 600 square kilometres. But none that yield revenues approaching $US750-million per annum. For those who feel we should keep our present policy of avoiding everything nuclear, I would ask a question: Where would you have the waste stored? Don’t say somewhere else. Pick a spot and consider the consequences. Robyn Williams: Just pick a spot. Geoffrey Hudson has a PhD in nuclear physics from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from the same place. Nowadays he works in computers. Next week, Jim Leavesley meets Horatio Nelson. I’m Robyn Williams. Guests on this program: Dr Geoff Hudson Nuclear Physicist and Computer Programmer Melbourne Further information: Who's Afraid of Nuclear Power: ABC TV Four Corners Programme http://abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20050822/ Presenter: Robyn Williams Producer: Brigitte Seega 2005 ABC| Privacy ***************************************************************** 35 AU ABC: Committee chairman says uranium safety under scrutiny. 08/10/2005. ABC News Online The chairman of a federal committee looking at developing non-fossil fuels in Australia says uranium is one option under consideration. The House of Representatives Industry and Resources Committee is conducting hearings to gather evidence for its inquiry. The next hearing will be in Canberra on Monday. Chairman Geoff Prosser says the committee is looking into all aspects of the uranium export trail, including safety. "This is a very, very heavily regulated industry, from the issuing of permits, to transport, to export, to licensing," he said. "It can only be exported to countries that we have an agreement with and countries that have signed up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaties, so it's a very tightly regulated industry." ***************************************************************** 36 Carlisle Business Gazette: LEAKED REPORT ON DUBIOUS PRACTICES AT WASTE PLANT Business Gazette © 2003 Published in Times &Star on Friday, October 7th 2005 BNFL WAS on the defensive this week after a leaked internal report about a plant at Sellafield was published. BNFL insisted safety was its priority following claims in the document of a catalogue of dubious practices at a waste vitrification plant at the Cumbrian nuclear site. The internal report, which it is claimed was compiled by a manager, at one stage features the heading: Homer Simpson Works At Sellafield. It also alleges the plant was potentially dangerous and some safety measures were based on guesswork. The leaked document claims that the Government forced BNFL to call in its French counterpart Cogema to help address concerns about how the plant is run. The plant in question binds radioactive waste produced by the nuclear industry in glass so it can be stored safely. The scientific basis for control of the plant relies at best on interpretation and at worst on guesswork, says the document. It adds that reports from employees on the site reveal a catalogue of dubious practices. It goes on: The low morale is endemic. Control cables to vital robotic arms have been cut, waste drums that should hold solid glass have been accidentally filled with highly active liquid waste, faults in safety mechanisms are not reported properly. The plant has become driven by production targets so much that it is becoming difficult to operate properly. Concerns raised at formal quality review committees are referred to secret black file meetings, where no records are ever made and no-one is held to account. BNFL said: Safety is our number one priority and all our activities on site are not only monitored by plant management, but overseen by our regulators. It denied that secret black-file meetings took place. ***************************************************************** 37 Pahrump Valley Times: Caliente mayor frets over Yucca Mountain licensing October 7, 2005 By STEVE TETREAULT WASHINTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Intense politicking in Nevada coupled with government stumbles on Yucca Mountain are affecting the nuclear waste project's supporters in the state, Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips warned the Energy Department on Wednesday. Phillips and a Nye County consultant attending a Yucca Mountain conference pressed an Energy Department speaker for signs of progress in the repository program that might buoy backers in Nevada. Phillips said Nevadans' perceptions have been affected by last year's presidential campaign in which Yucca Mountain was an issue, coupled with licensing delays and the disclosure this spring of controversial emails that mention possible document falsification. He said it is harder for supporters to argue that Yucca Mountain is a certainty, and would bring jobs and economic benefits. "Those factors together has caused the 'inevitability concept' that many of us keep promoting to our friends to go down a little," Phillips said. "Everybody has to understand this impacts the supportive Nevadan's ability to bring others into the fold with a constructive approach," Phillips said. "Every time there is a slip, believability gets challenged," said Cash Jaszczak, a Las Vegas-based consultant to Nye County. The Nevadans and industry advocates of the proposed nuclear waste repository sought clues from Eric Knox, associate director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. But Knox said he could not offer new timelines for the delayed project as DOE works through licensing and technical issues. "It's quality over quickness," Knox said. "But if we get to the right quality, the quickness will follow." Any progress on the proposed repository continues to be slow and uncertain, Yucca advocates were told at the conference. About 30 executives representing nuclear utilities and waste transportation companies, and several rural Nevada repository proponents, met to assess the project. They were told: It could be next summer or fall before the Energy Department sends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a repository license application to move the program forward, according to William Reamer, NRC director of the high level waste division. Reamer said appeals at the NRC over whether the Energy Department should post draft applications to a licensing database may extend to the end of the year, effectively delaying the project. DOE officials have said they would not file a final application until six months after the database is certified. Congress is unlikely to add Yucca Mountain provisions to energy bills being passed to help Hurricane Katrina recovery, said Clint Williamson, a professional staff member on the Senate Energy Committee. With lawmakers wanting to speed passage of Katrina bills, legislation to help Yucca Mountain "would prove to be very difficult to get through the Senate," Williamson said. Not the least of the opposition would come from Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "We all share the same concern. The program seems to be stalled," said Charles Pray, a nuclear waste adviser to the state of Maine and co-chairman of a Yucca Mountain advocacy group. Some officials said there is an added aura of uncertainty how Yucca Mountain might be affected by an Energy Department nuclear waste reprocessing initiative said to be in the works. The Energy Daily newsletter reported in July the office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management - which manages Yucca Mountain - was among DOE branches participating in the initiative. DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said Wednesday he could not confirm the participation but added, "individuals throughout this department are working on ways to expand the use of nuclear energy throughout the country and the implications of that." Paul Golan, Yucca Mountain acting director, also is conducting a comprehensive review of the project that could result in other changes. For comment or questions, please e-mail webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2005 ***************************************************************** 38 Deseret News: Tons of uranium soil coming to Utah [deseretnews.com] Friday, October 7, 2005 Deseret Morning News Hundreds of tons of soil containing uranium ore from Japan are scheduled to arrive in southeastern Utah within weeks. Deseret Morning News graphic State and federal regulators maintain that the soil, although radioactive, is not unsafe to transport, a threat to the local environment or nuclear waste. And the company that will process the material at its White Mesa Mill south of Blanding, International Uranium Corp., assured officials that the soil is safe. According to Harold Roberts, vice president of corporate development for IUC, the ore is "naturally occurring" and very similar to material the company would bring in from mines in the Four Corners region. The material will be processed into concentrated uranium oxide, commonly known as "yellowcake," which is used to produce fuel rods for nuclear plants. "People equate this with the waste from nuclear reactors, and that is not accurate," Roberts said. "It's very different . . . people shouldn't be alarmed." Until it is processed, the soil has a very low-level radioactivity that is only harmful if inhaled, said David McIntyre, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency. "The hazard is more of a chemical hazard than a radioactive hazard," McIntyre said. Shipping and processing the material does not require any special permits or licenses because it will be used for commercial purposes and not disposed of as nuclear waste, McIntyre said. It is that lack of permits that concerns environmental groups, who view the shipment for "processing" as nothing more than a ruse for IUC to become a nuclear waste dumping ground. Currently, the mill does not have the licenses required to dispose of nuclear waste. Sarah Fields, a member of the nuclear waste advisory committee for the Glen Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club, said that it doesn't make sense for IUC to haul in ore from Japan when it could mine what it needs in the Four Corners area. When coupled with the fact that the company is being paid to take the soil, that it can be stored at the mill for years without being processed, and that anti-nuclear groups in Japan have characterized it as waste, she fears that it is actually just waste with a different name. "It's really the waste from mined uranium in Japan — it's mine dump," Fields said. "Calling this mine dump ore and saying it is material they will process is totally fallacious." Dianne Nielson, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said that as long as the soil is processed for the uranium ore, the company is operating within its license for the White Mesa Mill. If it were to accept and dispose of waste, however, it would be required to get an additional permit. Currently, only the Envirocare facility in Tooele County can accept nuclear waste in Utah, and only the lowest level, class A nuclear waste. Nielson said that the soil is very similar to materials that IUC would bring to the mill — one of only two mills in the United States that is currently licensed to process uranium — from mines in the region or sometimes import from other countries, especially Canada. "This is what they're permitted to do," Nielson said. "We believe it is ore that can come to their mill, and that does not require any additional permits." Local officials are also not worried about the shipment, which was reported to have left Kobe, Japan, Monday. Chris Webb, city manager for Blanding, said city officials do not see any threat and are glad to see that the mill, which is a major employer when up and running, will be operating for the near future. "The environment that surrounds mill tailing and radioactive waste are mostly that, when you get down to the nitty-gritty," he said. "The possibility of somebody getting hurt or seriously ill is a very, very low risk." Contributing: The Associated Press E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /] ***************************************************************** 39 Guardian Unlimited: Energy Dept. Chief Slams Yucca Spending From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 7, 2005 1:46 AM By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department paid incentive money to its managing contractor on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, Bechtel SAIC, even though Bechtel turned in late and low-quality work, an Energy Department inspector general report said Thursday. The inspector general questioned $4 million in incentives paid to Bechtel for work on the planned Nevada dump from 2001-2004 - nearly 10 percent of the total $43.4 million in incentives Bechtel received during that period. ``While the total cost of inappropriate incentive fee payments cannot be determined, we estimate that (the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management) paid approximately $4 million even though Bechtel delivered poor quality work and missed deadlines,'' said the report. The criticism comes as Yucca Mountain, approved by Congress in 2002 as the nation's repository for nuclear waste, has suffered a series of setbacks. The government was forced by an appeals court to rewrite its radiation safety standard for the dump, and internal e-mails surfaced last spring suggesting government workers on the dump had falsified data. The dump's opening date has been repeatedly delayed and is now expected in 2012 or later. Paul Golan, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said in a letter to the inspector general that he agreed with the report's findings and would take corrective action. A DOE spokesman on Thursday declined comment beyond Golan's letter. ``We stand by the work we've performed under our contract. We take the report seriously and we're going to review it carefully,'' said Jason Bohne, spokesman for Bechtel in Las Vegas. In one example, the report said Bechtel was paid the full fee to develop a system for tracking management issues and corrective actions, even though the system was determined to be unacceptable because it was not user-friendly. In another example, it said Bechtel was offered a $2 million incentive for on-time completion of a ``Licensing Support Network'' that would post documents related to the development of Yucca Mountain on the Internet. The Energy Department determined Bechtel would not meet the March 2003 deadline, but instead of eliminating the incentive it used the money to create new and different incentives for Bechtel. The total value of Bechtel's contract was $3.2 billion; it was eligible for $50 million in incentives and received $43.4 million of which the inspector general questioned $4 million. Yucca Mountain is meant to hold 77,000 tons of nuclear waste for 10,000 years and beyond. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 40 MDN: Japanese A-bomb victims hopeful ahead of Nobel Peace Prize announcement MSN-Mainichi Daily News: Terumi Tanaka was just 13 when a U.S. B-29 dropped a plutonium bomb over his home town of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killing more than 60,000 people -- including five of his relatives. A sudden flash was followed by a force so strong he was knocked off his feet. He survived, and later joined an organization of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to promote peace and nuclear ban. Sixty years later, the organization he now heads is tipped to become the next winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Senji Yamaguchi, a survivor from Nagasaki and a founding member of the organization, is separately nominated for the honor for his leading role in the international anti-nuclear campaign. Yamaguchi, 75, has spent most of his life speaking about the horrors of nuclear warfare. A photograph of his badly burned body has been widely circulated in anti-nuclear campaigns. Tanaka said a peace prize for either Yamaguchi or his group would be a big boost for the anti-nuclear movement. "I hear we're one of the favorites. We have great expectations," said Tanaka, Secretary General of the Japan Confederation of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Sufferers, or Hidankyo, hours before the announcement. Established by a group of A-bomb survivors -- called "hibakusha" in Japanese -- 11 years after the bombings, Hidankyo has campaigned for a nuclear-free world under the slogan, "No to nuclear war, abolish nuclear weapons." The group also played an important role in securing medical assistance and benefits for hibakusha, many of whom developed numerous illnesses from being exposed to nuclear radiation -- including cancer and liver troubles. "While so many others died agonizing deaths, miraculously I survived. In the midst of the suffering and disability that I went through thereafter, I often considered suicide, but each time something prevented me from doing so. It feels as if those people who died gave me life," Yamaguchi said at a campaign against nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki earlier this year. "I hope 60 years on, younger people will want to learn more about the horrors we experienced in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Tanaka said. He added that the key to stemming nuclear proliferation would be for the United States to set an example by doing away with its nuclear arsenal. "Humankind must get rid of the notion that peace can be maintained through nuclear arms," Tanaka said. Other favorites among a record 199 nominees up for the Nobel Peace Prize this year include International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, and anti-nuclear American politicians Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn. (AP) October 7, 2005 Copyright 2004-2005 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All ***************************************************************** 41 AFP: UN nuclear watchdogs win Nobel Peace Prize, 60 years after Hiroshima 07/10/2005 11h46 Mohamed ElBaradei ©AFP/File - Joe Klamar OSLO (AFP) - The UN nuclear watchdog and its Egyptian director general Mohamed ElBaradei won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, 60 years after the world's first atomic attack. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its chief were honored on friday "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way," the Nobel Committee said. The choice comes 60 years after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945, the world's first, and to date only, nuclear attacks. "At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation," it said. The IAEA, which was founded in 1957, and ElBaradei were chosen out of a record 199 candidates. "It was not an especially difficult choice this year," Nobel Committee president Ole Danbolt Mjoes told reporters. The IAEA itself was "quite stunned", spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said at the organization's Vienna headquarters. "We are a very proud agency today and extremely proud of our director ElBaradei." She said the agency should get "added recognition and added support". The IAEA and its head have been instrumental in the thorny negotiations in Iran and North Korea over the past year that have brought the dangers of nuclear proliferation into focus. The agency found Iran guilty of violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and has threatened to take the country before the UN Security Council. Shimon Peres, an Israeli Nobel Peace Prize winner, said that the prize was a warning to Iran's nuclear ambitions. "It is a warning to Iran because Iran is today the biggest and most dangerous problem," the deputy prime minister said. The IAEA also helped push forth a six-party North Korean nuclear agreement last month, which it described as "a first step toward the goal of the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner." ElBaradei, 63, who is the first Egyptian to win the award since president Anwar Sadat was honored with Israeli Menachem Begin in 1978, has been hailed for his determination to resolve conflicts over nuclear proliferation through peaceful negotiations. In the run-up to the US-led war against Iraq in 2003, the seasoned diplomat pleaded at the UN for more time for inspections, making him unpopular with Washington. But Mjoes insisted that the Nobel jury's choice was no criticism of the United States, which was later embarrassed on the world stage when Saddam Hussein was not found to possess weapons of mass destruction. An IAEA flag flatters in the wind in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarers in Vienna ©AFP/File - Joe Klamar "This is not a kick in the shin of any nation, any leader," he said. "It is a challenge to all leaders in the world and all the world's nations to go much further on the road towards ridding the world of nuclear weapons." Not everyone was pleased with the Nobel jury's choice. The head of Nihon Hidankyo, a group of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, who had been a favorite for this year's prize, accused the committee of passing over his group so as not to offend the US. "It makes me wonder if the Nobel Peace Prize committee is paying special consideration to a certain country," said Senji Yamaguchi, accusing the United States of "being responsible for not being able to stop other countries from possessing nuclear weapons." French green group Sortir du Nucleaire (Get Out of Nuclear) also blasted the decision, claiming that the IAEA had failed to prevent nuclear proliferation. The Nobel jury has rewarded nuclear non-proliferation twice before in the past two decades on major anniversaries of the nuclear bombing of Japanese targets by the United States in World War II. In 1995, the coveted award was given to the Pugwash group and its founder Joseph Rotblat, and in 1985, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War received the prize. When they receive the award in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel in 1896, the agency and its chief will split a cheque worth 1.3 million dollars (1.1 million euros). Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005 ***************************************************************** 42 Guardian Unlimited: IAEA, ElBaradei Share Nobel Peace Prize From the Associated Press [UP] Friday October 7, 2005 1:31 PM AP Photo FRA106 By DOUG MELLGREN Associated Press Writer OSLO, Norway (AP) - Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency that he heads won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. ElBaradei, a 63-year-old lawyer from Egypt, has led the U.N. nuclear agency as it grappled with the crisis in Iraq and the ongoing efforts to prevent North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. The Nobel committee said ElBaradei and the IAEA should be recognized for addressing one of the greatest dangers facing the world. ``At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its director general.'' ElBaradei said in Vienna, Austria, that the prize ``sends a strong message'' about the agency's disarmament efforts and will strengthen his resolve to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. ``The award basically sends a very strong message, which is: Keep doing what you are doing,'' ElBaradei said. ``It's a responsibility but it's also a shot in the arm. They want to give the agency and me a shot in the arm to move forward.'' The committee said it recognized the IAEA and ElBaradei for ``their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.'' ElBaradei, who was reappointed last month to a third term, has had to contend with U.S. opposition to his tenure. Much of the opposition stemmed from Washington's perception he was being too soft on Iran for not declaring it in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That stance blocked a U.S. bid to haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council, where it could face possible sanctions, for more than two years. The IAEA passed a resolution last month warning Tehran of such referral unless it allayed fears about its nuclear program. ElBaradei also refused to endorse Washington's contention that Iran was working to make nuclear weapons and disputed U.S. assertions that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq had an active atomic weapons program - both claims that remain unproven, despite growing suspicions about Tehran's nuclear agenda. ElBaradei and the agency had been among the names mentioned as speculation mounted in recent days the Nobel committee would seek to honor the victims of nuclear weapons and those who try to contain their use. The committee has repeatedly awarded its prize to anti-nuclear weapons campaigners on the major anniversaries of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. ``This is a message to all the people of the world: Do what you can to get rid of nuclear weapons,'' Nobel committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes said. ``The people's power is formidable.'' On the 50th anniversary, in 1995, the prize went to anti-nuclear campaigner Joseph Rotblat and his Pugwash group. In 1985, it went to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and in 1975 to Soviet nuclear scientist-turned-anti-nuclear campaigner Andrei Sakharov. ``We will never give up and we must never give in,'' Mjoes said. A record 199 nominations were received for the prize, which includes $1.3 million, a gold medal and a diploma. ElBaradei and the IAEA will share the award when they receive it Dec. 10 in the Norwegian capital. The Nobel committee called ElBaradei ``an unafraid advocate'' of new measures to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons. ``At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA's work is of incalculable importance,'' the committee said. Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, a friend and colleague of ElBaradei, told The Associated Press the award was ``very encouraging and fortunate.'' ``I see it as an endorsement of the professional and independent role of the IAEA and of international verification in the field of nuclear power and nonproliferation,'' Blix said. Under ElBaradei, the IAEA has risen from a nondescript bureaucracy monitoring nuclear sites worldwide to a pivotal institution at the vortex of efforts to disarm the two regimes. Austere and methodical, ElBaradei took a strident line as he guided the agency through the most serious troubles it faced since the end of the Cold War. He accused North Korea, for example, of ``nuclear brinkmanship'' in December 2002 after it expelled two inspectors monitoring a mothballed nuclear complex. Pyongyang said the plant needed to go back on line because of an electricity shortage. Norway's outgoing Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said the committee's choice was ``gratifying.'' ``This is a homage to their crucial efforts to stop nuclear proliferation, in order to prevent the use of such weapons in conflicts between states or in terrorist attacks,'' he said. ^--- On the Net: http://www.nobelprize.org Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 43 Seattle Times: Energy Department may not meet deadline for Hanford plant Friday, October 7, 2005 - Page updated at 01:28 PM By Shannon Dininny The Associated Press YAKIMA  The U.S. Department of Energy has notified officials in Washington state that it may be unable to meet the legal deadline for operating a multibillion-dollar waste treatment plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation. If the Energy Department fails to have the plant up and running by 2011, it would mark the fourth time the federal government has missed a deadline to complete its largest construction project. The deadline already has been pushed back three times. The plant is being designed to treat highly radioactive waste left from decades of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. The Energy Department halted construction on major portions of the plant last month amid skyrocketing costs stemming from seismic issues and construction problems. Federal officials have repeatedly refused to release a new cost estimate for the plant - currently tagged at more than $5.8 billion. Congress has estimated the latest problems could push the cost as high as $10 billion and delay the start by four years. The Energy Department notified state officials yesterday that a new cost estimate and schedule for completing construction on the plant will not be ready before June 2006, the state Department of Ecology said in a statement today. "We continue to be frustrated by this update, but at the same time agree that USDOE and the contractors should do the job right and not make promises they cannot keep," the statement said. An Energy Department spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. The Energy Department also notified the state that it may not meet two deadlines for cleaning up sludge from two leak-prone pools of water near the Columbia River. The K East and K West basins were built at Hanford to store spent nuclear fuel, but cleaning them up has proven more difficult than envisioned. The federal government was to have sludge removed from the K East basin by July 31, 2006, and all sludge from the K West basin in containers by June 30, 2006. The Energy Department warned it may miss both deadlines. The waste treatment plant has long been considered the cornerstone of cleanup at Hanford, which was created in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Today, it is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site. The greatest risk is posed by 53 million gallons of decades-old radioactive waste brewing in 177 underground tanks. Retrieval of the waste is a priority because some of the tanks are known to have leaked, threatening the aquifer and the Columbia River less than 10 miles away. The plant will use a process called vitrification to turn the waste into glasslike logs for permanent disposal in a nuclear waste repository. Once completed, it will stand 12 stories tall and be the size of four football fields. The operating deadline already had been pushed back three times from the original deadline of 1999. Critics argue the current slowdown could have been avoided if the federal government had conducted a more thorough seismic review. Three years ago, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board raised concerns that the agency's seismic review was inadequate, and a scientific report in 2004 found that the force of the ground movements at the plant site during a severe earthquake would be 38 percent greater than previously estimated. Under the Tri-Party Agreement, the legal pact signed by the state Department of Ecology, Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department, which manages cleanup at Hanford, the plant was to have been fully operating by 2011. The plant is being designed as it is being built  a method that has proven costly. Design of the plant is about 75 percent complete, while construction is only about 35 percent complete. The price tag already has grown from $4.3 billion to the current $5.8 billion. If the cost jumps to $10 billion as Congress estimated, that would push it closer to the $15.2 billion estimate former contractor BNFL Inc. proposed in 2000. The Energy Department fired the company shortly thereafter. Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company ***************************************************************** 44 DOE: Office of Science; Notice of Renewal of the DOE/NSF Nuclear FR Doc 05-20256 [Federal Register: October 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 194)] [Notices] [Page 58697-58698] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07oc05-49] Science Advisory Committee Pursuant to Section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act and in accordance with Title 41of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 102-3.65, and following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee has been renewed for a two-year period, beginning October 1, 2005. The Committee will provide advice to the Associate Director of the Office of Science for Nuclear Physics (DOE), and the Assistant Director, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (NSF), on scientific priorities within the field of basic nuclear science research. The Secretary of Energy has determined that renewal of the Committee is essential to conduct business of the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and is in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed by law upon the Department of Energy. The Committee will continue to operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Department of Energy Organization Act (Pub. L. 95-91), and implementing regulations. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Rachel Samuel at (202) 586- 3279. [[Page 58698]] Issued in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2005. James N. Solit, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 05-20256 Filed 10-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 45 DOE: Office of Environmental Management; Notice of Availability of FR Doc 05-20257 [Federal Register: October 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 194)] [Notices] [Page 58698] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07oc05-50] Draft Section 3116 Determination Concerning Disposal of Residual Tank Wastes in Tanks 18 and 19 at the Savannah River Site AGENCY: Office of Environmental Management, Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of a draft determination concerning the permanent, in-situ disposal of residual tank wastes (including tank structure and equipment) in liquid radioactive waste tanks 18 and 19 at the F-Tank Farm (FTF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. DOE prepared the draft determination pursuant to Section 3116 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, which authorizes the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to determine that certain waste from reprocessing is not high-level waste (HLW) if the provisions set forth in section 3116 are satisfied. Although not required by the Act, DOE is making the draft determination available for public review and comment. DATES: The comment period will end on November 21, 2005. Comments received after this date will be considered to the extent practicable. ADDRESSES: The draft waste determination is available on the Internet at http://apps.em.doe.gov/swd, and is publicly available for review at the following locations: U.S. Department of Energy, Public Reading Room, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, Phone: (202) 586-5955, or Fax: (202) 586-0575; and U.S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office, Public Reading Room, 171 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801, Phone: (803) 641-3320, or Fax: (803) 641- 3302. Written comments should be addressed to: Mr. Matthew Duchesne, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, EM-2, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, comments can be filed electronically by e-mail to matthew.duchesne@em.doe.gov, or by Fax at (202) 586-4314. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1954, SRS Tank Farms F and H have received over 140 million gallons (Mgal) of waste from SRS nuclear material processing facilities. Much of this waste resulted from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel for defense purposes, which has been commingled with non-reprocessing waste. The waste tanks contain two distinct types of radioactive waste material, approximately 3 Mgal of radioactive sludge and approximately 34 Mgal of salt waste. DOE's plans call for stabilizing and disposing of retrieved sludge in a deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Regarding the salt waste, DOE contemplates removing fission products and actinides from these materials using a variety of technologies and solidifying the remaining low-activity salt stream into a grout matrix, known as saltstone grout, suitable for disposal in vaults at the Saltstone Disposal Waste Determination. This Determination addresses only the permanent disposal of the residual materials contaminating Tank 18 and Tank 19, as well as the structure of the tanks themselves and ancillary equipment. Both tanks have a nominal operating capacity of 1.3 Mgal. Waste removal operations for Tank 18 were initiated in 1985 and completed in 2003. Tank 18 now holds approximately 4.3 thousand gallons (Kgal) of residual material. Waste removal operations for Tank 19 were initiated in 1981 and completed in 2001, and it now holds approximately 15.1 Kgal of residual material. DOE plans to fill both tanks with a reducing grout designed to stabilize and solidify the residual material. This method was chosen as the least hazardous and most environmentally preferable alternative. It will reduce migration of contaminants into the environment; prevent inadvertent intrusion; minimize free-standing liquids; and minimize void spaces in the tank. After final pouring of the stabilizing grout, a layer of higher-strength grout will be poured into the tanks to further discourage human/animal inadvertent intrusion. In addition, institutional controls (access restriction and groundwater monitoring) will be implemented and maintained in accordance with Federal and State agreements. Final Determination: Section 3116 authorizes the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), to determine that certain waste from reprocessing is not HLW if the provisions set forth in Section 3116 are satisfied. DOE will issue a final waste determination for Tanks 18 and 19 following the completion of consultation with the NRC, and consideration of any public comments. Issued in Washington, DC, on October 3, 2005. Mark A. Gilbertson, Deputy Assistant, Secretary for Environmental Cleanup and Acceleration. [FR Doc. 05-20257 Filed 10-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 46 www.GovExec.com: Energy unit paid contractor award fees despite poor performance (10/7/05) [GovExec.com] DAILY BRIEFING GovExec Live! With $62 billion already dedicated to Gulf Coast recovery and more money likely on the way, lawmakers and inspectors general are hammering out oversight plans. Agencies are making sure small, local businesses have a chance to win reconstruction work, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is reviewing contracts awarded. At 12 p.m. EST on Wed., Oct. 12, GovExec.com reporter Chris Strohm will answer your questions about the massive recovery effort. You can submit your questions early or during the live online discussion. Energy unit paid contractor award fees despite poor performance By Kimberly Palmer kpalmer@govexec.com The Energy Department paid a contractor working on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project millions of dollars in incentive fees even though the company failed to meet performance requirements, the agency's inspector general reported Thursday. Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management paid the award fees to Bechtel SAIC Co., a joint venture between the global construction company Bechtel Corp. and the information technology company Science Applications International Corp., even though the company had to take extra time to "correct poor quality work" and delivered unacceptable products, according to the report. Bechtel SAIC won the five-year, $3.2 billion contract to manage and operate the Yucca Mountain Project in February 2001. Energy is preparing Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a site to store and safely dispose of nuclear waste. The contract specified that if Bechtel SAIC helped Energy give a nuclear waste site recommendation to President Bush by Dec. 18, 2001, then it would receive an incentive award of $17.7 million. According to the IG report, the site recommendation documents provided by Bechtel SAIC were deemed unacceptable. The needed corrections delayed the recommendation by 22 days. Still, Energy paid Bechtel SAIC $17.5 million of the incentive fee. The report blamed the lack of a plan clearly identifying the level of performance required for each incentive and how that performance would be measured, as well as a lack of documentation on the decision to award the fees. "It was unclear what rationale the fee determining official used when deciding the appropriate fee," the report stated. The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management agreed with the report's findings and said it would develop a corrective action plan. Bechtel did not return a call seeking comment. An SAIC spokeswoman deferred calls to Bechtel SAIC Co., which did not return messages. ©2005 by National Journal Group Inc. 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